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DEID  CORYDOM  GR.0 


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BR  85  .G76  1911 

Grover,  Delo  Corydon. 
The  volitional  element  in 
knowledge  and  belief 


THE   VOLITIONAL  ELEMENT 
IN   KNOWLEDGE   AND  BELIEF 

AND  OTHER  ESSAYS  IN  PHILOSOP 
AND    RELIGION 


BY  v^ 

DELO  CORYDON  GROVER,  S.T.B. 

DEAN    OF    SCIO    COLLEGE,     PROFESSOR    OF    PHILOSOPHY    AND    RELIGION 


INTRODUCTION  BY 

FRANCIS   J.  McCONNELL,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

PRESIDENT    DE  PAUW    UNIVERSITY 


BOSTON 

SHERMAN,    FRENCH    &  COMPANY 

1911 


Copyright,  1911 
Sherman,  French  <^  Company 


TO 

THE    MEMORY    OF 

BORDEN  PARKER  BOWNE 

SCHOLAR,    THEOLOGIAN,    PHILOSOPHER, 

WHO    FIRST    TAUGHT    US    THE    IDEALISTIC    WAY    OF 

INTERPRETING     MAN,     THE     WORLD    AND    GOD    AND 

THEIR  MUTUAL  RELATIONS,  THIS  BOOK  18  DEDICATED 

BY    THE    AUTHOR 


CONTENTS 

Chapter  Page 

Introduction,  by  Francis  J.  Mc- 

CoNNELL,  D.D.,  LL.D.  ...         i 
Author's  Preface v 

I.    The      Volitional      Element      in 

Knowledge  and  Belief       .      .        1 
11.    The  Higher  Criticism       .      .      .11 

III.  Men  and  the  Church       ...      19 

IV.  The  Theological  Education  De- 

manded BY  THE  Times     ...     31 
V.    The  Opportunities  of  the  Min- 
istry AS  A  Life  Work     ...      44 
VI.    A  Study  of  Doctrines       ...      53 
VII.    A  Group  of  Studies  of  the  Life 

AND  Times  of  Jesus  ....      62 
Preliminary  Considerations     ...     62 
The  Nation  and  the  Times  of  Jesus  .     64 
The  Birth  and  Infancy  of  Jesus  .      .     68 
The    Childhood    Home    and    School 

Life  of  Jesus 74 

"The  Eighteen  Silent  Years"     .      .     78 
The      Wilderness      Temptations; — A 
Key  to  the  Interpretation  of  the 

Life  of  Jesus 81 

The  Miracles  of  Jesus 86 

The  Logic  of  the  Resurrection  .  .  91 
On  the  Coming  of  Jesus  ....  100 
Thoughts  on  the  Ascension  .     .     .  104 


CONTENTS 

Chaftek  Pao« 

VIII.    Of     the    Increase    of     Christ's 

Kingdom 109 

IX.    "In   Christ" 114 

X.    The    Philosophy     of    Christian 

Prayer 118 

XI.  The  Philosophy  of  the  Rela- 
tion OF  THE  Messianic  Hope 
to  the  Attainment  of  Human 

Righteousness 127 

XII.    The     Bible — What    is     Claimed 

FOR  It 136 

XIII.  Origin    of    the    New    Testament 

AND  THE  Fixing  of  the  Canon  .    141 

XIV.  A  Conviction  About  Sin  .      .      .    147 
XV.    The  Philosophy  of  Retribution  152 

XVI.    A   Brief   Examination    of    Spen- 
cer's Definition  of  Evolution  159 
XVII.    "We  All  Are  Prophets"  .      .      .168 


INTRODUCTION 

This  volume  of  essays  is  in  general  in  line  with 
the  philosophic  principles  of  the  late  Dr.  Borden 
P.  Bowne.  The  very  title  of  the  essay  which 
gives  the  book  its  name,  "The  Volitional  Ele- 
ment in  Knowledge  and  Belief,"  would  indicate 
kinship  with  the  Bowne  philosophy.  Dr.  Bowne 
possessed  in  a  singular  degree  the  power  of 
rousing  his  followers  to  think  on  their  own  ac- 
count and  to  carry  out  his  principles  in  apply- 
ing his  implications  in  fields  beyond  the  strictly 
philosophical.  He  used  to  feel  that  his  philos- 
ophy had  significance  for  all  departments  of 
Christian  thinking  and  practice.  If  he  had  lived 
he  would  have  been  glad  to  see  the  use  which 
Dean  Grover  has  made  of  one  of  his  fundamental 
conceptions,  namely,  the  significance  of  will  for 
Christian  belief. 

We  are  coming  to  see  in  these  latter  days  that 
the  Christian  system  does  not  depend  for  its 
chief  basis  upon  formal  argument.  This  does 
not  mean  that  the  formal  arguments  for  Chris- 
tianity are  not  better  than  the  formal  argu- 
ments against  Christianity.  Christianity  is  not 
to  be  overthrown  by  argument.  On  the  other 
hand,  however,  it  is  not  to  find  its  firmest  foun- 
dation in  argument.  Strict  argument  leaves  us 
many  times  with  a  drawn  battle.  The  will  must 
come  in  to  make  a  choice  and  the  satisfaction 


ii  INTRODUCTION 

which  follows  the  choice  of  the  Christian  position 
is  the  real  argument  for  Christianity. 

This  does  not  mean  however  that  Christianity 
is  to  dispense  with  thinking  to  make  clear,  first 
of  all,  the  presuppositions  of  the  Christian  sys- 
tem. Dean  Grover  has  done  well  to  point  out 
the  fact  that  all  thinking,  of  whatever  sort,  pro- 
ceeds upon  assumption.  Assumption  is  inevi- 
table, but  we  must  know  when  we  are  assuming 
and  when  we  are  reasoning  upon  what  has  been 
assumed.  Works  like  this  volume  of  essays  have 
large  value  in  that  they  train  the  mind  to  see 
just  what  assumption  is  necessary  and  then  to 
guard  the  mind  against  thinking  that  assumption 
is  reasoning  or  that  reasoning  can  take  the  place 
of  or  do  without  assumption.  The  one  difficulty 
with  present  day  "Pragmatism"  is  that  in  the 
hands  of  many  disciples  it  results  in  general 
looseness  of  intellectual  procedure.  The  lead- 
ers of  the  pragmatic  movement  have  of  course 
not  intended  this  result.  The  will  to  believe  is 
all-essential  but  the  will  must  be  an  enlightened 
one,  making  its  choices  rationally  and  reasoning 
about  them  in  a  logical  manner. 

Just  at  present  Pragmatism  is  the  order  of 
the  day  in  Christian  thinking.  Correctly  un- 
derstood this  principle  is  nothing  more  or  less 
than  the  philosophical  statement  of  the  truth 
that  those  who  will  to  do  the  will  of  God  shall 
know  the  doctrine  of  Christ.  The  system  is  open 
to     ridiculous    excesses    however    and    harmful 


INTRODUCTION  iii 

abuses.  There  is  danger  in  the  new  movement 
that  the  claims  of  strict  logic  and  scholarship 
will  at  many  points  be  over-ridden.  The  total 
effect  of  reading  Dean  Grover's  book  will  be  to 
guard  against  the  extremes  and  the  aberrations 
of  the  movement. 

The  other  essays  in  the  volume  deal  some  with 
critical  and  some  with  practical  matters.  We  be- 
lieve that  the  careful  reading  of  them  will  tend 
to  the  intellectual  strengthening  and  the  doctrinal 
upbuilding  of  believers. 

May  the  essays  be  widely  read,  especially 
among  ministers !  Those  who  read  these  essays 
will  not  only  get  thorough  and  solid  instruction 
but  will  also  gain  an  impulse  toward  that  in- 
telligent and  critical  thoughtfulness  without 
which  spiritual  zeal  cannot  accomplish  the  best 
results. 

Francis  J.  McCoNNELii. 


PREFACE 

There  is  nothing  more  pressing  in  the  thought 
activities  of  our  time  than  the  bringing  into  true 
perspective  the  matter  of  presuppositions  in 
Philosophy  and  Religion.  The  really  significant 
philosophical  and  religious  thinking  of  our  time 
is,  in  all  cases  where  the  thinking  is  consistent, 
based  upon  the  appropriate  presuppositions. 

A  root  idea,  not  particularly  original  with  the 
author,  which  underlies  the  following  essays,  is 
that  these  presuppositions  which  are  so  deter- 
minative for  all  our  thinking  and  for  all  our 
conclusions  are  largely  a  matter  of  the  will ;  that 
is,  the  mental  response  to  the  soul's  environ- 
ment which  these  represent  is  practical,  pas- 
sional, volitional. 

Philosophical  theory  is  determined  in  charac- 
ter and  speculative  significance  by  its  presup- 
positions touching  two  questions.  First,  is 
thinking  and  knowing  an  active  process  repre- 
senting the  self-directed  working  of  a  unitary 
and  abiding  ego,  or  is  it  a  passive  process  rep- 
resenting the  reaction  which  something  which 
may  be  variously  styled  brain,  mind,  substance 
or  inner  life  makes  against  something  which  may 
be  variously  styled  nerve  stimuli,  sensation  or  the 
outer  world?  The  philosophers  of  this  genera- 
tion see  more  clearly  than  ever  what  a  long  train 
of  consequences  for  moral  and  speculative  theory 


vi  PREFACE 

follow  upon  the  answer  to  this  question.  What 
the  answer  shall  be  is,  at  the  first  and  at  the 
last,  with  more  or  less  analytical  reflection 
thrown  between,  determined  volitionally.  The 
present  author  holds  it  as  a  rational  presupposi- 
tion that  thinking  and  knowing  represent  the 
self-activity  of  a  unitary  and  abiding  ego. 

A  second  question,  the  answer  to  which  is 
equally  determinative  for  philosophical  theory, 
runs  as  follows :  Is  fundamental  being  to  be  re- 
garded as  intelligent,  free,  purposive,  self-exist- 
ent embodiment  of  the  principle  of  efficient  caus- 
ation, or  is  it  non-intelligent,  non-purposive,  non- 
causal,  essentially  an  unknowing  and  unknowable 
somewhat  of  which  nothing  can  be  affirmed  and 
nothing  denied?  Upon  a  thinker's  answer  to 
this  question  will  depend  the  trend  and  outcome 
of  all  his  logical  reasoning  in  metaphysical 
theory.  Here  also  will  follow  important  specu- 
lative consequences  touching  the  problems  of 
thought  and  knowledge  and  the  bases  of  religion. 
It  is  a  conviction  with  the  author  that  funda- 
mental being  can  be  found  nowhere  short  of  free 
intelligence,  self-existent,  the  constant  and  un- 
failing creator  and  up-holder  of  all  that  is,  the 
World-ground,  the  Absolute,  the  Christian's 
God.  If  something  less  than  this  is  to  be  ac- 
cepted as  rational  presupposition  in  metaphysi- 
cal theory,  nevertheless  the  author  can  not  begin 
with  any  metaphysical  presupposition,  touching 
fundamental  being,  short  of  self-existent,  causal 


PREFACE  vii 

intelligence  if,  upon  reflection,  he  hopes  to  reach 
any  very  valuable  conclusion.  The  primary  ac- 
ceptance of  such  presupposition  is  volitional. 
Afterwards  it  is  supported  by  processes  of  an- 
alytical reflection  which,  other  assumptions  being 
freely  made,  shut  our  thought  up  to  accept  it  or 
nothing.  Then  follows  with  the  present  author 
its  final  acceptance,  which  in  the  last  analysis  is 
free,  rational,  volitional. 

All  persons  whose  thinking  is  worth  while  and 
whose  interpretations  have  significance  are  con- 
sciously or  unconsciously  on  one  side  of  the 
philosophical  debate  as  determined  by  their 
voluntarily  accepted  presuppositions.  In  all 
completed  theory  the  conclusions  of  philosophy 
become  the  presuppositions  of  religion.  Religi- 
ous life  and  theory  in  all  stages  of  their  develop- 
ment are  moulded  according  to  some  more  or  less 
clearly  accepted  philosophical  conclusions  con- 
cerning man,  the  world  and  the  world-ground, 
and  the  relations  of  these  to  each  other.  This 
is  as  true  of  the  undeveloped  savage  as  of  the 
man  of  civilization.  It  is  natural  for  man,  sav- 
age or  civilized,  to  have  a  philosophy,  that  is, 
a  way  of  looking  at  things,  a  way  of  interpreting 
himself,  the  world  and  the  ground  of  both. 
Philosophy  is  not  yet  perfected,  but  it  is  a  far 
cry  from  the  metaphysics  of  idealism  to  that  of 
the  totemism  or  animism  of  the  savage.  Man 
has  not  yet  attained  the  last  word  in  philosophy 
or  religion,  but  he  presses  on  toward  the  goal. 


viii  PREFACE 

Professor  Bowne  says  of  philosophy  that  it  is 
"militant,  not  triumphant."  The  same  is  true 
also  of  religion. 

Among  the  author's  presuppositions  in  reli- 
gion underlying  the  following  essays  are  these: 
Man  has  a  body  and  he  is  a  soul.  He  has  all  his 
being  in  the  constant  will  of  infinite  free  intelli- 
gence. Man  can  only  be  adequately  explained 
as  a  free  person  created  in  the  image  of  the  only 
God.  The  only  real  explanation  of  the  world 
of  fact  and  reason  is  found  also  in  God. 

God  is  the  only  one  completely  personal,  that 
is,  whose  powers  of  self-direction  are  only  limited 
by  the  laws  of  reason  which  are  the  laws  of  his 
own  nature.  Nor  has  God  created  the  world  of 
finite  persons  and  matter  with  which  we  are 
familiar  and  then  withdrawn  Himself  to  some 
hypothetical  somewhere  from  which  point  of  view 
He  may  now  look  upon  the  vicissitudes  of  His 
own  created  world.  God  is  immanently  present 
in  all  His  world  in  creative  power  and  constant 
special  care  and  oversight. 

Finally,  religion  is  most  helpfully  conceived, 
as  Henry  Churchill  King  has  so  ably  shown,  in 
terms  of  personal  relationship.  It  is  believed 
that  the  power  of  religion  to  redeem  and  trans- 
form a  sin-discouraged  humanity  is  to-day  more 
generally  than  before  seen  to  begin  and  be  magni- 
fied in  the  establishment  and  nurturing  of  right 
personal  relationships,  primarily  with  God 
through  Jesus  Christ  and  in  only  a  less  degree 


PREFACE  ix 

through  any  others  of  God's  children  who  will 
for  the  love  of  their  brothers  bring  them  unto 
Jesus,  to  know  whom  is  to  know  the  livine 
God. 


THE    VOLITIONAL    ELEMENT    IN 
KNOWLEDGE    AND    BELIEF 

The  opening  essay  of  this  series  has  to  do  with 
an  important  feature  of  the  problem  of  knowl- 
edge and  belief.  In  its  preparation  the  writer 
has  found  especially  interesting  and  helpful  the 
work  of  Professor  James,  entitled,  "The  Will  to 
Believe,"  and  the  work  of  Professor  Bowne,  en- 
titled, "The  Theory  of  Thought  and  Knowl- 
edge." Mention  may  also  be  made  of  the  essay 
by  Wilfrid  Ward,  entitled,  "The  Wish  to  Be- 
lieve," in  which  the  passional  element  in  belief 
is  discussed.  The  fact  that  the  author  writes 
from  a  Roman  Catholic  standpoint  does  not  in 
this  case  materially  change  the  value  of  the  ar- 
gument. The  author  vindicates  the  "wish  to  be- 
lieve" as  a  legitimate  aid  in  the  attainment  of 
truth.  The  essay  is  well  written  and  is  in  the 
form  of  three  dialogues  in  which  the  chief  speak- 
ers are  an  agnostic  lawyer  and  a  Catholic  priest. 

To  most  people  the  problem  of  knowledge  is 
not  a  problem  at  all;  they  just  know,  and  that  is 
all  there  is  of  it.  If  they  have  studied  psychol- 
ogy a  little,  they  probably  analyze  the  mind  into 
intellect,  sensibility  and  will.  They  then  declare 
that  the  mind  knows  with  the  intellect,  and  that 
knowledge  is  the  result. 
1 


2  KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

When  we  come  to  the  realm  of  belief  we  find 
the  unreflecting  multitude  believing  or  disbeliev- 
ing very  largely  as  directed  by  self-interest,  and 
with  little  care  for  any  rules  of  logic.  As  soon 
as  a  little  science  is  learned  such  unreasoned 
belief  is  very  likely  to  be  dethroned,  and  per- 
haps cast  out  as  evil,  while  unreflection  gives 
way  to  skepticism,  and  Reason  (spelled  with  a 
big  R),  pledged  to  the  worship  of  "objective 
evidence,"  and  "absolute  certitude,"  is  enthroned. 
Clifford  is  quoted  by  James  as  saying:  "It  is 
wrong  always,  everywhere,  and  for  everyone,  to 
believe  anything  upon  insufficient  evidence,"  all 
of  which  sounds  very  well  indeed.  But  it  must 
not  be  forgotten  that  what  constitutes  sufficient 
evidence  upon  which  to  base  belief  is  itself  a  ques- 
tion upon  which  not  all  minds  agree.  Clifford 
himself  would  no  doubt  have  difficulty  in  pro- 
ducing "objective  evidence"  which  all  would  re- 
gard as  sufficient  to  warrant  all  his  belief.  Has 
Clifford  then  no  right  to  believe  that  in  support 
of  which  he  finds  evidence  which  he  is  willing  to 
accept  as  sufficient?  Most  certainly  he  has  such 
right,  and  further,  as  a  condition  precedent 
to  all  his  belief,  he  not  only  may,  but  must 
will,  upon  his  part  and  as  for  himself,  to  ac- 
cept the  evidence  as  sufficient  to  warrant  such 
belief. 

In  this  world  no  knowledge  is  complete.  All 
human  knowledge  is  based  upon  certain  assump- 
tion.    In  any   absolute  sense  we  never  can  go 


THE  VOLITIONAL  ELEMENT  3 

beyond  the  probable.     For  us  no  knowledge   is 
absolute. 

Absolute  and  universal  skepticism  in  the  sense 
of  universal  doubting  and  questioning  is  there- 
fore possible.  Upon  the  plane  of  formal  logic 
where  so-called  "objective  evidence"  is  always  re- 
quired, and  where  "absolute  certitude"  is  the 
only  good,  the  end  of  the  argument  must  be 
thorough-going  agnosticism  and  collapse.  There 
is  nothing  that  may  not  be  questioned.  We  are 
not  weakened  but  fortified  by  this  recognition 
of  our  human  limitations.  There  is  nothing 
then  beyond  the  reach  of  the  Pyrrhonistic  skep- 
tic. James  is  right  when  he  says,  "No  concrete 
test  of  what  is  really  true  has  ever  been  agreed 
upon."  There  is  no  such  thing  as  "absolute 
certitude"  based  upon  "objective  evidence." 
Knowledge  is  not  determined  thus  independently 
of  the  knower.  Bowne  puts  it  this  way  in  his 
chapter  on  "Philosophic  Skepticism,"  "The  no- 
tion of  an  official  speculative  standard  apart 
from  mind,  a  kind  of  philosophic  standard  metre, 
is  absurd.  The  mind  is  necessarily  its  own 
standard  and  judge."  Those  who  think  that 
the  mind  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  determina- 
tion of  its  own  knowledge  and  beliefs,  that  the 
volitional  character  of  knowledge  and  belief  is 
only  a  fancy,  and  that  the  mind  is  really  forced 
by  "objective  evidence"  to  the  acknowledg- 
ment of  "absolute  certitude,"  or  to  the  exercise 
of  belief  or  disbelief,  would  do  well  to  note  care- 


4  KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

fully  the  following  from  Professor  James,  and 
they  will  see  how  uncertain  a  thing  "absolute 
certitude"  may  be.  He  says :  "For  what  a  con- 
tradictory array  of  opinions  have  objective  evi- 
dence and  absolute  certitude  been  claimed!  The 
world  is  rational  through  and  through, — its  ex- 
istence is  an  ultimate  brute  fact;  there  is  a  per- 
sonal God, — a  personal  God  is  inconceivable; 
there  is  an  extra-mental  physical  world  immedi- 
ately known, — the  mind  can  only  know  its  own 
ideas;  a  moral  imperative  exists, — obligation  is 
only  the  resultant  of  desires ;  a  permanent 
spiritual  principle  is  in  every  one, — there  are 
only  shifting  stages  of  mind;  there  is  an  endless 
chain  of  causes, — there  is  an  absolute  first  cause; 
an  eternal  necessity, — a  freedom;  a  purpose, — 
no  purpose ;  a  primal  one, — a  primal  many ;  a 
universal  continuity, — an  essential  discontinuity 
in  things ;  an  infinity, — no  infinity.  There  is 
this, — ^there  is  that;  there  is  indeed  nothing 
which  someone  has  not  thought  absolutely  true, 
while  his  neighbor  deemed  it  absolutely  false." 

We  must  recognize  the  volitional  action  of  the 
mind  in  determining  its  own  knowledge  and  be- 
lief. We  must  conclude  with  Bowne  that  "Mind 
is  necessarily  its  own  standard  and  judge,"  and 
that  "every  rational  being  must  at  last  trust  his 
rational  insight." 

We  may  define  the  will  as  the  whole  mind  in 
its  power  to  put  forth  acts  of  volition.  There 
is  an  old  notion  in  psychology  that  the  mind  is 


THE  VOLITIONAL  ELEMENT  5 

divided  into  intellect,  sensibility  and  will,  some- 
thing as  if  the  mind  had  three  rooms.  In  one 
room  all  acts  of  perceiving  and  knowing  take 
place.  Marked  over  the  door  to  this  room  is 
the  awe-inspiring  word  Intellect.  In  another 
room  all  the  tears  are  shed,  all  the  laughs  are 
enjoyed,  all  acts  of  feeling  are  indulged.  Over 
the  door  to  this  room  is  marked  Sensibility.  In 
a  third  room  all  volitions  are  put  forth  and  all 
choices  made.  Over  its  door  is  the  word  Will. 
What  is  done  in  any  one  of  these  rooms  is,  ac- 
cording to  this  way  of  thinking,  independent  of 
what  is  done  in  any  other.  Such  a  psychology 
is  of  course  purely  academical,  and  leaves  actual 
life  out  of  the  account.  The  truth  seems  to  be 
that  the  unitary  mind  is  involved  in  every  act 
of  knowing,  feeling,  or  willing.  In  every  voli- 
tion there  are  elements  of  knowing  and  feeling. 
So  in  feeling  there  are  both  volitional  and  intel- 
lectual elements,  and  in  knowing  there  are  voli- 
tional and  emotional  elements. 

We  are  now  ready  for  our  main  proposition, 
viz. :  In  this  world  there  can  be  no  knowledge 
or  belief  that  does  not  involve  a  volitional  ele- 
ment, and  that  is  not  ultimately  determined  by 
the  will. 

Theoretically  and  actually  there  can  be  no 
absolute  knowledge  for  a  finite  mind.  This  prop- 
osition is,  we  believe,  without  serious  question 
among  speculators.  That  which  in  practical 
life  we  do  very  well  to  call  knowledge  can  really 


6  KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

claim  for  itself  only  a  high  degree  of  prob- 
ability. While  in  practical  affairs  we  properly 
enough  distinguish  between  knowledge  and  belief, 
yet  we  should  not  forget  that  what  men  call 
knowledge  can  never  claim  from  the  reflective 
mind  absolute  certitude,  but  only  a  strong  de- 
gree of  faith.  As  there  is  a  volitional  element 
in  belief  there  is  also  a  volitional  element  in  our 
knowledge.  It  seems  to  us  that  both  Bowne  and 
James  fail  in  the  full  statement  of  the  case  just 
here,  for,  while  both  clearly  demonstrate  the 
volitional  element  in  belief,  both  fail  apparently 
to  recognize  a  like  volitional  element  in  knowl- 
edge. The  mind  must  will  to  assume  the  trust- 
worthiness of  its  own  perceptive  and  reflective 
processes  before  it  can  get  on  at  all.  My  mind 
must  will  to  assume  the  trustworthiness  of  my 
senses  before  I  can  make  any  progress  towards 
knowledge.  I  may  will  not  to  trust  my  nature, 
but  by  so  doing  I  deliberately  shut  the  door  to 
all  knowledge  to  which  I  might  otherwise  attain. 
Most  important  and  manifold  assumption  must 
be  made  therefore  as  a  condition  precedent  to 
the  attainment  by  us  of  any  knowledge  or  belief. 
This  assumption  can  be  made  only  as  the  mind 
wills  to  make  it. 

All  this  has  a  very  important  bearing  upon 
the  work  of  the  Christian  minister  who  is  sent 
to  call  sovereign,  free,  moral  agents  to  a  pos- 
sible knowledge  of  and  belief  in  God.  It  is 
worth  much  for  us  to  know  that  there  can  be 


THE  VOLITIONAL  ELEMENT  7 

no  knowledge  or  belief,  in  any  realm,  until  the 
will  steps  in  and  declares  certain  assumptions 
made.  Further  the  mind  must  will  to  declare 
the  case  closed  and  pronounce  a  verdict  for 
probability,  or  moral  certainty,  which  we  may 
call  knowledge,  but  which  is  only  another  name 
for  a  high  degree  of  probability.  Our  arriving 
at  any  truth  at  all,  therefore,  depends  very 
much  upon  our  own  will  to  know.  So  likewise 
our  arriving  at  any  faith  depends  upon  our  own 
will  to  believe.  If  we  will  not  will  to  know  we 
can  not  be  forced  to  know  anything.  The 
thoroughgoing  agnostic  is  one  who  will  not  will 
to  know  anything.  As  with  knowledge  so  with 
belief;  if  we  will  not  will  to  believe  we  can  not  be 
forced  to  believe  anything,  not  even  that  these 
bodies  of  ours  have  any  real  existence,  or  that 
we  have  anything  to  do  with  our  own  choices. 
The  old  saying,  therefore,  is  true  not  only  as  an 
"old  saying"  but  as  a  philosophical  proposition 
— "No  one  is  so  blind  as  he  who  will  not  see." 
We  can  now  also  understand  how  it  is  that  "a 
man  convinced  against  his  will  is  of  the  same 
opinion  still." 

If  the  proposition  which  we  are  seeking  to 
prove  is  sound,  viz. :  that,  "In  this  world  there 
can  be  no  knowledge  or  belief  that  does  not  in- 
volve a  volitional  element,  and  that  is  not  ulti- 
mately determined  by  the  will,"  that  fact  must 
indeed  have  an  important  bearing  upon  the  work 
of  the  Christian  minister  sent  to  deal  with  free 


8  KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

agents  who  can  come  to  a  knowledge  of  or  a 
belief  in  the  truth  only  as  each  wills  so  to  do. 
Bowne  speaks  of  the  "volitional  and  practical 
nature  of  belief"  as  a  point  "the  knowledge  of 
which  is  of  great  importance,  if  not  absolutely 
necessary  for  our  intellectual  salvation."  He 
adds  upon  this  point:  "Persons  living  on  the 
plane  of  instinct  and  hearsay  have  no  intel- 
lectual difficulty  here  or  anywhere  else;  but  per- 
sons entering  upon  the  life  of  reflection  without 
insight  into  this  fact  are  sure  to  lose  themselves 
in  theoretical  impotence  or  in  practical  impu- 
dence. The  impotence  manifests  itself  in  a 
paralyzing  inability  to  believe,  owing  to  the 
fancy  that  theoretical  demonstration  must  pre- 
cede belief.  The  impudence  shows  itself  in  rul- 
ing out  with  an  airy  levity  the  practical  princi- 
ples by  which  men  and  nations  live,  because  they 
admit  of  no  formal  proof.  These  extremes  of 
unwisdom  can  be  escaped  only  by  an  insight  into 
the  volitional  and  practical  nature  of  belief." 

It  is  philosophically  as  well  as  practically  true 
that  "If  any  man  willeth  to  do  His  will,  he  shall 
know  of  the  teaching"  (John  vii,  17,  R.  V.), 
that  is,  if  any  man  is  so  determined  to  know 
God's  will  that  he  is  willing  to  will  to  do  it  so 
far  as  it  may  be  revealed  to  him,  he  shall  know. 
Jesus  here  clearly  recognized  the  volitional  ele- 
ment in  all  human  knowledge  of  God's  will. 

In  conclusion  let  it  be  urged  that,  by  the  way 


THE  VOLITIONAL  ELEMENT  9 

of  profitable  warning,  the  volitional  element  in 
both  knowledge  and  belief  ought  to  be  persist- 
ently explained  until  all  have  knowledge  of  the 
fact,  and  especially  should  this  be  urged  on  be- 
half of  those,  who,  for  want  of  a  knowledge  of 
the  volitional  character  in  all  knowledge  and 
belief,  have  already  well-nigh  lost  themselves  "in 
theoretical  impotence  or  in  practical  impudence." 

Individuals  hear  what  they  will  to  hear;  see 
what  they  will  to  see;  believe  what  they  will  to 
believe,  and  know  what  they  will  to  know.  And 
it  is  easily  made  manifest  that  in  a  large  degree 
they  will  to  hear  what  they  want  to  hear;  will 
to  see  what  they  want  to  see ;  will  to  believe  what 
they  want  to  believe,  and  will  to  know  what  they 
want  to  know. 

The  presence  of  a  more  or  less  influential  in- 
tellectual element  in  knowledge  and  belief  is  ad- 
mitted. We  urge  that  there  is  also  a  grand 
passional  element  therein,  involving  both  emotion 
or  desire,  and  volition.  Therefore,  "Blessed  are 
they  that  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness, 
for  they  shall  be  filled"  (Matt,  v,  6). 

Finally,  believing  thoroughly  in  the  practical 
importance  of  the  proposition  which  we  have 
herein  tried  to  elucidate,  we  repeat  it  here:  In 
this  world  there  can  be  no  knowledge  or  belief 
that  does  not  involve  a  volitional  element,  and 
that  is  not  ultimately  determined  by  the  will. 
Whosoever   will   will    to    know    and    believe    the 


10         KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

truth  may.  The  provision  has  been  made  for 
the  spiritual  and  intellectual  salvation  of  every 
individual.  Let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  the 
final  consummation  rests  with  the  human  will. 


II 

THE  HIGHER  CRITICISM 

WHAT  IT  IS,  ITS  DANGEES  AND  ITS  ADVANTAGES  TO 
THE    PREACHER. 

The  higher  criticism  is  no  longer  to  be  ig- 
nored, but  to  be  understood.  Preacher  and  lay- 
man must  inhale  something  of  the  odors,  or 
fumes,  which  arise  from  the  too  often  heated 
discussions  of  the  questions  in  a  study  of  the 
subject.  Certainly  no  preacher  can  afford  not 
to  know  what  the  higher  criticism  really  is.  It 
should  neither  be  ignored  nor  denounced,  but 
studied. 

If  the  critics  and  their  followers  have  too 
often  been  puffed  up  with  their  own  knowledge 
and  conceit,  it  is  also  true  that  some  have  lost 
no  opportunity  to  denounce  them  as  the  foes  of 
the  church  and  of  Christ.  When  we  were  study- 
ing in  the  school  of  theology,  all  the  students  one 
day  received  a  pamphlet  in  which  the  higher 
critics  and  Robert  G.  Ingersoll  were  put  in  the 
same  class  as  foes  of  Christianity.  The  author 
of  that  pamphlet  is,  we  believe,  proclaiming  to- 
day more  extreme  views  than  ever  before. 

Doctor  C.  M.  Cobern  has  spoken  of  Professor 
Charles  H.  H.  Wright  as  "that  thoroughly  or- 
thodox Old  Testament  scholar,"  and  then  quoted 
the  following  from  the  Professor's  pen:  "There 
11 


12         KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

are  those,  alas,  who  look  upon  every  deviation 
from  the  old  traditional  views  as  akin  to  apos- 
tasy from  the  faith.  But  they  who  are  gifted 
with  a  firmer  faith  in  the  'oracles  of  God'  and 
are  indisposed  to  think  the  'ark'  in  danger  be- 
cause the  oxen  happen  to  stumble,  will  welcome 
all  new  light  upon  every  Biblical  question." 

It  is  important  that  every  preacher,  not  only 
for  his  own  sake,  but  also  for  the  sake  of  his 
congregation,  should  have  at  least  an  intelligent 
general  understanding  of  the  wide  field  of  Bibli- 
cal research  and  criticism.  All  preachers  need 
not  be  specialists  in  this  branch  of  technical  in- 
quiry, but  all  need  to  be  so  prepared  that  they 
may  give  wise  and  safe  counsel  to  their  people  in 
all  matters  so  involving  the  foundations  of  re- 
ligious faith  and  life.  With  this  in  mind  it  is  our 
purpose  to  consider  briefly,  in  this  essay,  the  na- 
ture of  the  higher  criticism,  together  with  some 
reflections  touching  its  dangers  and  its  advant- 
ages to  the  preacher. 

First,  what  is  the  higher  criticism.''  Perhaps 
no  single  sentence  is  enough  in  which  to  define 
it.  But  we  may  describe  it.  Doctor  Cobern 
says :  "It  is  not  a  set  of  theories  or  conclusions 
of  any  kind;  it  is  a  method."  Principal  Cave, 
of  Hackney  College,  London,  asks :  "What  is  the 
critical  method.'"'  He  answers  his  question  by 
saying:  "It  is  the  examination  of  the  books  of 
the  Bible  by  the  same  principles  by  which  all 
literature  is  studied ;  it  is  logic ;  it  is  the  applica- 


THE  HIGHER  CRITICISM  13 

tion  to  the  law  and  the  prophets  of  that  in- 
ductive method  by  which  discoveries  innumerable 
have  been  made  in  all  the  paths  of  research." 
Professor  Ladd  says :  "By  the  higher  criticism 
is  meant  that  study  which  tries  to  reproduce 
the  influences  and  circumstances  out  of  which  the 
Biblical  books  arose,  and  thus  exhibit  them  as 
true  children  of  their  own  time."  We  once 
heard  President  Harper  declare  that  the  stock 
questions  of  the  higher  critic  are  the  same  as 
every  thorough-going  Sunday-school  teacher  had 
been  asking  for  a  long  period;  namely,  "Who 
wrote  this  scripture  which  we  are  now  studying? 
When?  Where?  Under  what  conditions?  For 
what  immediate  purpose?"  etc. 

It  may  also  be  noted  that  there  are,  as  we 
should  indeed  expect,  several  kinds  of  higher 
criticism.  We  may  speak  of  the  higher  criti- 
cism as  moderate,  or  immoderate ;  as  construc- 
tive, or  destructive.  As  to  the  critics  them- 
selves, they  may  be  Christian  or  non-Christian; 
they  may  be  real  truth-seekers,  or  only  learned 
quibblers. 

The  great  need  is  for  all  Christians  to  be- 
come, in  a  real  sense,  moderate,  constructive  in- 
quirers into  Biblical  knowledge  and  divine  truth. 
The  results  of  any  particular  application  of  the 
higher  critical  method  in  the  study  of  the  Bible 
will  depend  largely  on  the  character  of  the  critic. 
Is  he  Christian,  or  unbelieving?  Is  he  inclined 
to  be  a  builder,  or  a  destroyer?     What  is  his 


14         KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

spirit?  The  character  of  a  critic's  work  will 
depend  somewhat  upon  his  scholastic  attain- 
ments, but  quite  as  much  upon  what  he  is. 

The  reason  why  there  may  be  such  marked 
dangers  as  have  been  often  pointed  out,  while 
at  the  same  time  there  may  be  important  ad- 
vantages accruing  from  the  higher  criticism, 
arises  largely  from  the  fact  that  we  thus  do 
have  so  many  kinds  of  critics,  and  these  different 
kinds  of  critics  make  so  many  different  uses  of 
the  scientific  method  of  research. 

We  have  thus  far  sought  to  describe  the  na- 
ture of  the  higher  criticism.  We  have  learned 
that  it  is  not  a  system  of  theories  or  conclusions, 
but  it  is  a  method.  We  have  also  learned  that 
there  are  many  kinds  of  critics,  moderate  and 
immoderate,  constructive  and  destructive,  Chris- 
tian and  non-Christian ;  and  that  the  results  vary 
as  do  the  critics.  Hence  the  possibilities  of 
dangers,  upon  the  one  hand,  and  of  advantages, 
upon  the  other,  from  the  higher  criticism.  These 
dangers  and  advantages  we  now  propose  to  con- 
sider as  they  directly  affect  the  preacher.  And, 
first,  the  dangers  to  the  preacher  from  the 
higher  criticism  may  be  enumerated  thus : 

One  danger  is  that  the  preacher  will  allow 
himself  to  be  panic-stricken.  Men  have  been 
stampeded  by  the  noise  of  a  cry  which  they  did 
not  so  much  as  take  pains  to  understand.  The 
Word  says :  "Be  still,  and  know  that  I  am  God." 
The  man  who  believes  in  God  need  not  be  anxi- 


THE  HIGHER  CRITICISM  15 

ous  for  the  truth.  If  we  believed  that  Satan 
waged  an  equal  warfare  with  our  God,  then  it 
would  do  for  us  to  be  anxious  for  God's  truth, 
and  to  worry  lest  it  should  be  overthrown.  But 
as  we  believe  in  God,  we  need  not  have  any  fear 
as  to  who  will  triumph.  "Uzza  put  forth  his 
hand  to  hold  the  ark,"  and  the  Lord  smote  Uzza 
for  an  everlasting  example  to  the  fearful  and 
faithless.  Therefore,  let  the  investigation  go  on 
until  we  know  all  that  can  be  known  about  the 
Word  of  God.  Let  us  not  worry  lest  the  truth 
of  God  should  be  lost.  It  can  be  lost  only  by 
one  who,  knowing  the  truth,  refuses  to  glorify 
God  in  it ;  or  by  one  who  might  know  the  truth, 
but  who,  lest  some  idol  of  ignorance  should  be 
overthrown,  refuses  to  use  the  eyes  which  God 
gave  him  for  the  discovery  of  the  truth.  May 
we  all  have  faith  enough  to  ask  with  every  faith- 
ful Sunday-school  scholar,  when,  and  by  whom, 
and  under  what  circumstances  the  Bible  was 
written !  May  we  have  faith  enough  not  to  fear, 
as  did  Uzza,  lest  the  ark  of  God  should  be  over- 
thrown !  Only  as  we  come  to  the  study  of  the 
Bible  with  such  a  truth-loving,  God-believing, 
teachable  mind,  can  it  be  possible  for  us  to 
learn  the  message  which  the  God  of  all  truth 
has  in  it  for  us.  Avoid  the  danger  before  which 
Uzza  fell. 

Another  danger  is  that  the  preacher  will  say 
too  much  about  the  higher  criticism  in  his  pul- 
pit, either  to   defend  or  to   denounce  it.      It  is 


16         KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

a  safe  rule  for  a  preacher  to  follow  in  his  ordi- 
nary pulpit  ministrations  never  to  mention  the 
name  of  the  higher  criticism,  or  any  of  its  kin. 
It  is  our  conviction  that  in  most  cases  the  men- 
tion of  the  name  will  at  once  close  some  doors 
against  the  real  truth,  while  it  will  not  open  any 
others  to  the  truth. 

Still  another  danger  is  that  of  arrogance  and 
conceit.  "  Beware  of  the  leaven  of  the  Phari- 
sees !"  Let  the  preacher  who  favors  the  higher 
criticism  take  special  pains  to  heed  this  warning. 
Above  all  else  in  this  connection,  do  not  use  any 
terms  or  any  argument  which  may  unduly  re- 
flect upon  the  earnest  or  pious  wisdom  of  the 
fathers. 

There  is  more  peril  to  the  preacher  arising 
from  the  higher  criticism  in  that  he  may  get  into 
the  habit  of  preaching  his  doubts  in  the  pulpit. 
This  is,  perhaps,  the  greatest  danger  of  all. 
Mere  rabbis  may  tell  what  some  other  rabbi 
said  that  some  rabbi  thought;  but  prophets  of 
God,  preachers  of  the  Christ  of  God,  have  a 
message  which  the  people  need  to  hear.  Preach 
the  message.  Let  the  preacher  leave  his  doubts 
in  his  study  until  they  are  dissolved  in  a  larger 
knowledge.  In  the  pulpit  let  him  speak  for 
God  "  as  one  having  authority."  When  God 
calls  a  man  to  preach,  He  commissions  him  to 
deliver  a  positive  message,  and  to  speak  with 
authority. 

I  come  now  to  speak  of  some  real  advantages 


THE  HIGHER  CRITICISM  17 

to  the  preacher  arising  from  the  higher  criti- 
cism. 

And,  first,  it  brings  to  the  preacher's  work 
a  scientific  method,  which  is  resolutely  demanded 
by  the  temper  of  our  time.  The  best  thought 
of  this  age  is  fearless,  candid,  rational,  believ- 
ing. The  higher  criticism  brings  to  our  use  a 
scientific  method  suited  to  the  times. 

In  the  second  place,  it  may  do  much  in  giv- 
ing freedom  from  what  has  sometimes  amounted 
to  a  superstitious  reverence  for  a  book.  It  may 
thereby  make  way  to  God.  It  has  been  charged 
that  while  Papists  worship  the  Pope,  Protes- 
tants worship  a  book.  This  was  not  the  case 
when  Luther  boldly  reconstructed  the  Biblical 
Canon,  but  there  came  to  be  some  grounds  for 
such  a  charge  later  on.  Under  the  influences  of 
the  higher  critical  method,  the  Bible  may  now 
again  take  its  sure  place  in  our  lives  and  preach- 
ing as  a  record  of  God's  progressive  revelation 
of  himself  to  men,  and  of  man's  progressive  dis- 
covery of  God.  We  now  learn  with  Moody  and 
the  greatest  evangelists,  as  also  with  the  great- 
est scholars  of  the  Word,  to  think  of  the  Bible 
as  inspired  not  "because  it  is,"  but  we  know  it 
is  inspired  because  it  inspires. 

We  may  now  consider,  finally,  some  positive 
uses  which  the  preacher  may  properly  make  of 
the  higher  criticism. 

And,  first,  he  may  always  avail  himself  of  the 
facts  which  the  scholars  bring  to  light,  always 


18         KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

reserving  the  right  to  draw  his  own  conclusions 
from  the  facts. 

Secondly,  he  may  preach  the  facts  as  facts, 
saying  nothing  about  the  higher  criticism. 
Facts  may  be  delivered  with  the  authority  be- 
coming a  preacher;  theories  and  unproved  hy- 
potheses can  not.  Proved  facts  are  a  part  of 
the  great  fund  of  God's  revealed  truth.  He 
should  make  positive  use  of  the  facts. 

Thirdly,  let  all  the  facts  thus  used  be  in- 
terpreted as  the  Spirit  gives  the  preacher  utter- 
ance, he  remembering  always  to  apply  them 
with  a  careful  view  to  the  needs  of  those  to 
whom  he  is  called  to  minister.  Thus  the 
churches  may  learn  the  truth  truly,  and  be 
wisely  nourished  and  safeguarded  against  the  in- 
sidious attacks  of  doubt  and  skepticism,  rather 
than  be  weakened  and  destroyed  in  faith. 

Preachers  may  thus  use  the  higher  criticism 
in  the  discovery  of  their  own  prophetic  message 
to  the  churches  of  to-day.  In  conscious  honesty 
and  manifest  loyalty  to  the  truth  as  it  is  found 
in  the  Bible,  they  may  speak  with  a  freshness,  a 
power  to  convict  and  convert,  yea,  with  the 
"authority"  with  which  God's  prophets  have 
spoken  in  every  age. 


Ill 

MEN  AND  THE  CHURCH 

No  theme  of  more  practical  importance  can 
be  brought  to  the  consideration  of  Christians 
to-day  than  this  of  men  and  the  church.  There 
are  many  signs  that  the  church  is  waking  to  the 
problem  presented  by  the  fact  that  relatively 
so  few  men  are  found  in  the  churches.  The  re- 
sults have  been  tabulated,  and  are  already  be- 
coming the  basis  of  reform. 

In  the  present  essay  I  do  not  propose  to  treat 
the  subject  exhaustively,  but  only  to  raise  cer- 
tain questions  which  must  be  considered  in  any 
thorough  study  of  the  general  theme.  Such 
questions  are  the  following: 

1.  Are  men  less  religious  than  women? 

2.  Why  are  so  few  men  in  the  church? 

3.  Are  the  churches  really  doing  the  work 
which  the  church  of  Christ  was  founded  to  do? 
If  not,  in  what  do  they  fail  most? 

4.  Can  substitutes  for  the  church  take  its 
place  (1)  in  its  relation  to  the  individual,  (2) 
in  its  relation  to  society? 

5.  What  more  should  the  church  do  to  win 
men? 

I  think  with  reference  to  the  first  question  that 
it   is    generally   the    opinion    that   men    are   less 
religious  than  women.     And  yet  there  have  been 
19 


20  KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

periods  of  the  world's  development  when  it  has 
seemed  as  though  all  the  light  and  life  and  knowl- 
edge were  for  the  men.  Among  some  peoples 
women  are  regarded,  even  until  now,  as  incapa- 
ble of  intellectual,  moral  or  spiritual  attain- 
ment. But,  thanks  to  Christianity,  it  has  come 
to  pass  among  all  the  most  civilized  races  to- 
day that  women  are  given  an  equal  opportunity 
for  intellectual  and  spiritual  development  with 
men.  It  is  truly  significant  that  only  under 
the  development  of  Christianity  has  woman  won 
such  noble  recognition.  And  this  is  a  great 
credit  to  Christianity  and  its  Jewish  ante- 
cedents. But  who  can  believe  that  room  is  here 
found  for  the  extreme  inference  that  God  ever 
intended  a  higher  attainment  of  moral  and  spir- 
itual life  for  women  than  he  did  for  men.'' 
Without  fear  of  controversy,  it  is  rather  be- 
lieved that  any  interpretation  of  God's  message 
in  which  it  is  assumed  that  the  highest  moral 
and  religious  attainment  is  alone,  or  even 
chiefly,  for  women  is  a  mistaken  interpretation. 
No  doubt  certain  types  of  religion  will  ap- 
peal more  strongly  to  women  than  to  men.  We 
should  expect  that  to  be  true.  If — which  may 
be  granted — the  prevailing  interpretations  of 
Christianity  in  the  church  often  have  appealed 
more  strongly  to  women  than  to  men,  who  has 
a  right  to  say  that  all  the  fault  is  with  those 
outside  the  church?  May  it  not  be  that  cer- 
tain  very   beautiful   elements    of  the   gospel   of 


MEN  AND  THE  CHURCH  21 

God  which  appeal  more  readily  to  women  than 
to  men  have  been  disproportionately  emphasized 
in  the  prevailing  interpretation  of  that  gospel 
among  men?  Our  interpretation  of  the  spirit- 
ual life  may  not  have  been  as  comprehensive 
as  that  found  in  the  New  Testament.  The 
sympathetic,  soothing,  meek  and  lowly  features 
of  the  Christ  have  been  rightly  emphasized;  but 
it  is  also  to  be  remembered  that  Jesus  was  manly, 
virile,  courageous,  heroic.  Reference  may  be 
made  to  the  cleansing  of  the  temple;  the  bear- 
ing of  Jesus  when  he  was  rejected  at  Nazareth; 
when  he  was  arrested  in  Gethsemane;  when  he 
was  before  Pilate;  or  to  any  of  his  interviews 
and  controversies  with  the  scribes  and  Phari- 
sees. If  the  church  is  more  successful  in  at- 
tracting women  than  men,  it  is  more  than  pos- 
sible that  the  church  has  not  represented  the 
Christ  to  men  aright,  as  it  should  have  done. 
Professor  Coe  has  shown  clearly  that  the  pre- 
vailing interpretation  of  the  spiritual  life  has 
been  too  largely  temperamental.  Paul  has  in- 
sisted that  a  spiritual  exercise,  whether  it  is 
praying,  or  eating,  or  whatever  it  may  be,  is 
truly  such  only  as  it  is  done  as  in  God's  pres- 
ence and  with  reference  to  Him.  When  the 
church  has  in  certain  periods  of  her  history 
given  real  emphasis  to  those  elements  of  her 
message  which  for  temperamental  reasons  ap- 
peal as  strongly  to  the  masculine  as  to  the  fem- 
inine, then  has  she  been  as  successful  in  winning 


22         KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

men  as  she  has  ever  been  in  winning  women. 
I  am  convinced  that  just  at  this  point  the 
church  has  a  real  problem.  It  is  not  shown 
that  men  are  any  less  responsive  to  a  rightly 
emphasized  interpretation  of  the  Christian  ap- 
peal than  are  women. 

One  of  the  questions  which  must  be  consid- 
ered in  any  thorough  study  of  the  present  sub- 
ject is,  "Why  are  so  few  men  in  the  church?" 
Preachers  are  in  the  habit  of  looking  at  things 
from  their  point  of  view.  It  is  for  them 
specially  important  to  try  to  learn  how  others 
view  the  same  problems  they  are  studying. 

With  this  in  mind  I  sent  out  letters  at  one 
time  to  about  forty  of  the  representative  men 
of  one  Ohio  town  of  about  fifteen  hundred  popu- 
lation, asking  them,  among  other  questions : 
"Why  are  not  more  men  of  this  town  members 
of  some  church?"  I  received  thoughtful,  care- 
ful and  manifestly  candid  replies  to  considera- 
bly over  half  the  letters  sent,  besides  having  the 
opportunity  for  conversation  with  the  other  per- 
sons to  whom  letters  had  been  sent.  Some 
twenty-six  clearly  defined  and  distinct  reasons 
were  offered  by  my  correspondents  in  answer 
to  my  question.  Somewhat  strange  to  know, 
if  I  were  to  classify  them  as  doctrinal  and  so- 
cial, the  reasons  would  be  equally  divided  be- 
tween the  two.  Of  the  doctrinal  reasons  many 
were  formal  rather  than  substantial,  and  showed 
objection  to  the  organized  church,  rather  than 


MEN  AND  THE  CHURCH  23 

to  Christianity.  The  social  reasons  given  were 
as  various  as  the  temperaments  and  conditions 
of  my  correspondents.  Some  replies  were  from 
members,  some  from  non-members.  Two  of  the 
latter  thought  the  great  number  of  churches  in 
our  little  town  kept  some  men  out  of  any.  Four 
church-members  thought  that  secret  societies, 
clubs,  etc.,  take  the  place  of  the  church  with 
many  men.  Four  members  and  two  non-mem- 
bers urged  that  the  inconsistent  lives  of  some 
church-members  keep  many  men  aloof  from  the 
church.  Two  members  referred  to  the  careless 
and  indifferent  religious  training  which  many 
men  have  received  in  their  childhood  and  youth 
as  a  reason  for  their  present  indifference  to  re- 
ligion and  the  church.  Three  members  believed 
that  a  good  many  fear  to  come  within  the  range 
of  the  church's  influence  lest  they  be  brought 
under  conviction  for  sin ;  hence  they  stay  away. 
Five  non-members  said  that  unbelief  in  essen- 
tial Christian  doctrines  is  a  reason  why  a  good 
many  men  hold  aloof  from  the  churches. 

Nearly  all  distinctly  avowed  their  respect  for 
the  church,  and  expressed  the  belief  that  it  is 
doing  good  in  the  community. 

As  will  be  seen  I  am  now  only  noting  the 
special  reasons  which  the  men  of  one  representa- 
tive town  on  the  Western  Reserve  gave  in  an- 
swer to  the  question  now  under  consideration. 

Among  the  doctrinal  reasons  given  were  dis- 
belief in  miracles,  disbelief  in  the  supernatural 


M         KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

birth  of  Jesus,  and  unbelief  in  the  Bible.  And 
among  the  social  reasons  were  the  existence  of 
so  many  lodges,  which  for  many  men  take  the 
place  of  the  church,  and  a  desire  to  have  Sun- 
day for  other  things  than  church.  Since  most 
of  these  men  expressly  state  their  respect  for 
the  church  and  their  belief  that  it  is  doing  much 
for  the  community,  I  urge  them  and  all  others 
like  them,  to  consider  that  if  all  men  did  as  they 
do,  there  would  be  no  churches.  Among  the 
inconsistencies  of  church-members  which  were 
emphasized  were  hypocrisy  and  jealousy  among 
the  members. 

It  is  believed  that  the  reasons  given  by  the 
men  of  this  town  are  representative.  In  view 
of  all  this,  it  specially  behooves  the  members 
of  the  churches  to  "walk  circumspectly"  before 
all  men,  avoiding  all  hypocrisy  and  jealousy  as 
wholly  incompatible  with  truth  and  love  as  it  is 
in  Christ.  "But  sanctify  in  your  hearts  Christ 
as  Lord:  being  ready  always  to  give  answer  to 
every  man  that  asketh  you  a  reason  concerning 
the  hope  that  is  in  you,  yet  with  meekness  and 
fear:  having  a  good  conscience;  that,  wherein 
ye  are  spoken  against,  they  may  be  put  to  shame 
who  revile  your  good  manner  of  life  in  Christ." 

As  stated  above,  one  of  the  questions  which 
I  asked  of  the  men  of  my  own  town  with  refer- 
ence to  the  churches  of  that  place  was  the  fol- 
lowing: "Are  the  churches  really  doing  the 
work  which  the  church  of  Christ  was   founded 


MEN  AND  THE  CHURCH  25 

to  do?  If  not,  in  what  do  they  fail  most?" 
Most  of  the  men  gave  an  affirmative  answer, 
which  was  qualified  by  the  statement  of  particu- 
lars in  which  the  churches  were  thought  to  fail 
most. 

Not  many  of  my  correspondents  revealed  any 
very  clear  understanding  of  just  what  the 
church  of  Christ  was  founded  to  do.  The  New 
Testament  must  naturally  be  our  guide  in  such 
a  matter.  Jesus  "came  to  seek  and  to  save  the 
lost"  (Luke  xix,  10).  He  said  he  would  build 
His  church  upon  a  Divinely  inspired  faith,  in 
Himself,  confessed  (Matt,  xvi,  15—18). 

He  ordered  His  disciples  to  go  and  "evange- 
lize all  peoples,"  organizing  them  through  bap- 
tism into  the  faith  of  the  Father,  Son  and  Holy 
Spirit.  The  newly-enlisted  were  to  be  taught 
"all  things  which  Jesus  commanded"  (Matt, 
xxviii,  18-20). 

Finally,  the  work  of  the  church  was  held  by 
Jesus  to  be  the  same  as  His  own — "As  the  Fa- 
ther hath  sent  me,  even  so  send  I  you"  (John 
XX,  21). 

In  so  far  as  the  churches  are  measuring  up  to 
that  ideal  they  are  doing  what  the  church  of 
Christ  was  founded  to  do.  In  all  this  it  is  well 
to  remember  that  the  churches  are  only  the  ag- 
gregation of  the  individuals  who  form  them. 

My  correspondents  named  the  following  par- 
ticulars in  which  the  churches  were  believed  to 
fail    most :      ( 1 )    Too    little    difference    between 


26         KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

members  and  non-members;  (2)  In  some  reviv- 
alistic  preaching  and  some  discourteous  meth- 
ods; (3)  Too  little  of  "the  personal  touch," 
as  from  members  to  the  outsiders;  (4)  Too 
little  harmony  or  agreement  among  the  churches ; 
(5)  Lack  of  "charity"  (giving)  was  charged  by 
one  non-member;  (6)  "Lack  of  faith  in  God 
to  launch  out  upon  great  things"  and  "too  much 
dependence  in  man — ministers  in  particular" ; 
(7)  Churches  were  failing  to  convict  individuals 
of  sin  as  they  ought,  and  to  convince  them  of 
their  need  of  a  Saviour.  This  was  urged  by 
two  members;  (8)  One  of  the  local  pastors 
believes  the  churches  are  especially  failing  to 
arouse  men  to  a  sense  of  the  sacredness  of  life, 
with  its  infinite  significance;  (9)  It  was  also 
urged  that  the  churches  are  failing  to  give  the 
pastors  "the  earnest  and  prayerful  support  they 
need  to  make  their  work  the  greatest  success." 

Nothing  is  more  needful  than  that  all  Chris- 
tians should  acquaint  themselves  with  Jesus  and 
his  teaching,  that  they  may  know  what  the  true 
mission  of  the  church  of  Christ  really  is.  They 
should  also  study  the  particulars  in  which  the 
churches  fail  most,  that  these  may  be  corrected, 
and  that  the  Bride  of  Christ  may  adorn  herself 
for  his  coming. 

Another  question  which  is  being  asked  in 
widely  varied  circles  to-day  may  be  briefly  con- 
sidered in  this  place.  Can  substitutes  for  the 
the  church  take  its  place:     (1)   In  its  relation 


MEN  AND  THE  CHURCH  27 

to    the    individual,    (2)    In    its    relation    to    so- 
ciety ? 

Doubtless  there  are  many  practical  substi- 
tutes for  the  churches.  Men  and  women  have 
only  a  limited  amount  of  energy ;  and  when  it  is 
spent  in  one  direction,  it  cannot  be  used  in  an- 
other. There  are  clubs,  societies  and  lodges, 
open  and  secret,  for  men  and  for  women,  almost 
without  number.  And  doubtless  it  is  true  that 
these  often  interfere  with  the  legitimate  claims 
of  the  church  of  Christ.  The  church  has  been 
derelict  in  her  meeting  of  the  needs  of  men  in 
times  past,  and  hence  lodges  and  orders  have 
arisen  to  do  for  men  what  the  church,  if  her 
leaders  in  their  day  could  have  been  wise  enough, 
might  have  done  and  should  have  done.  I  am 
quite  in  harmony  with  a  correspondent  who 
writes :  "The  idea  that  secret  societies  and 
lodges  have  been  the  cause  of  keeping  men  from 
church  is,  in  my  opinion,  erroneous.  These 
lodges  have  been  the  natural  outcome  and  result 
of  these  religiously  dissatisfied  men,  and  not  the 
cause."  My  correspondent  is  right  at  least  as 
regards  the  primary  accounting  for  lodges  and 
orders.  Of  course,  these  societies,  which  arose 
as  a  result  of  the  church's  failure  to  measure  up 
to  her  full  opportunity,  may  now  in  turn  be- 
come a  real  cause  why  more  men  do  not  be- 
come members  of  some  church.  And,  consider- 
ing the  more  exhaustless  possibilities  of  the 
church,  the  needs   of  universal  human   life,  the 


28  KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

lodges,  if  men  are  not  careful,  may  easily  come 
to  occupy  a  position  wherein  the  good  shall 
crowd  out  or  hinder  the  best.  This  we  must 
believe  is  often  the  case. 

But  the  press,  the  school,  legislation,  the 
club,  the  lodge,  ethical  culture,  can  no  one, 
nor  can  all,  become  a  substitute  for  the  church 
in  its  relation  to  the  individual  or  to  society. 
Though  the  organized  church  has  never  reached 
its  ideal,  it  is  yet  significant  that  it  was  founded 
to  advance  the  most  universal  scheme  of  human 
brotherhood  ever  conceived  for  men.  All  others 
fall  short  of  it,  as  all  other  organizers  fall  short 
of  Christ.  The  individual  cannot  achieve  his 
best  until  led  to  seek  his  own  interests  in  the 
interests  of  the  rest  of  humanity.  None  but 
Christ's  church  can  lead  him  to  this  universal 
world-view. 

The  same  reasoning  applies  to  society.  Of 
possible  substitutes  for  the  church  Archbishop 
Ireland  says :  "Such  things  have  their  place  and 
their  value,  but  they  do  not  suffice.  Such 
things  do  not  control  the  inner  souls  of  men 
where  virtue  or  vice  is  born,  whence  issue  the 
edicts  which  govern  man's  outer  life  in  respect  to 
himself  and  his  fellowmen.  This  nothing  but 
religion  can  do."  The  highest  organized  repre- 
sentative of  religion  in  the  earth  is,  under  vari- 
ous forms,  the  church  of  Christ.  As  compre- 
hensive as  the  needs  of  strong  men  are  its  powers 


MEN  AND  THE  CHURCH  29 

to  satisfy.  Other  forces  and  organizations  may 
be  wholesome  and  good,  but  no  substitutes  can 
for  long  take  the  place  of  the  church. 

Finally,  what  more  should  the  church  do  to 
win  men  than  it  is  now  doing?  Touching  this 
question  it  is  my  conviction  that  the  signs  of 
the  times  are  full  of  hope.  The  church  is  al- 
ready waking  to  the  larger  call.  She  is  very 
generally  beginning  to  do  that  which  she  must 
continue  to  do  if  she  would  win  men.  The 
preaching  of  the  church  must  be  virile.  It  must 
not  emphasize  less  the  tender,  sympathetic  and 
gentle,  but  it  must  emphasize  more  the  masculine 
and  the  strong  in  the  message.  Let  our  minis- 
ters, who  have  too  often  disproportionately  em- 
phasized those  elements  in  the  Christ  message 
which  appeal  most  naturally  to  women,  hence- 
forth study  to  so  interpret  the  Christ  message 
as  to  emphasize  those  elements  which  appeal  most 
naturally  to  the  masculine,  to  men.  Preach  the 
strong,  brave,  fearless,  manly  Christ.  Call  men 
to  a  service  of  courage,  work,  action.  Promote 
and  encourage  the  work  in  the  church  for  boys 
and  men.  Emphasize  the  men's  club  as  much  as 
the  ladies'  aid  society.  Let  the  church  not 
show  too  much  surprise  when  the  men  come,  but 
make  a  place  for  men  as  men.  Let  men  be 
welcomed  in  the  church  as  warmly  as  they  are 
welcomed  in  the  lodge.  In  the  application  of 
the  comprehensive  gospel  to  human  problems  let 


30  KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

real  attention  be  given  to  those  problems  which 
are  distinctly  men's  problems.  The  gospel  of 
God  in  Christ  is  a  gospel  for  mankind.  Let  the 
church  rightly  interpret  that  message,  and  men 
will  be  glad  to  be  won  by  the  appeal. 


IV 


THE  THEOLOGICAL  EDUCATION  DE- 
MANDED BY  THE  TIMES 

The  subject  of  theological  training  is  one  of 
perennial  interest  to  the  whole  Christian  church. 
In  the  present  essay  are  presented,  (1)  Some 
preconsiderations  tending  to  invest  the  subject 
with  special  timeliness;  (2)  A  representation  of 
the  present  state  of  theological  education ;  and 
(3)  A  suggested  scheme  of  theological  educa- 
tion in  harmony  with  what  is  conceived  to  be  the 
demand  of  the  times. 

I.  Preconsiderations.  The  age  in  which  we 
live  has  witnessed  in  an  eminent  degree  a  widen- 
ing of  the  bounds  of  human  knowledge.  Since 
the  dawn  of  the  modern  era,  we  have  come  to  be- 
lieve that  the  capacity  of  the  human  mind  for 
conquest  is  well  nigh  unlimited.  This  faith  has 
been  strengthened  by  the  advance  made  during 
recent  years  in  the  arts  and  sciences.  Illus- 
tration is  unnecessary. 

At  the  same  time,  in  the  realm  of  fundamental 
conceptions,  speculative  thought  passed  from 
crass  materialism  to  evolutionism,  and  then  re- 
jected even  that  as  not  being  adequate  to  the  ex- 
planation of  the  world,  though  it  may  be  a 
worthy  doctrine  of  process  within  the  realm  of 
scientific  observation.  Better  than  ever  it  is 
31 


32         KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

coming  to  be  understood  that  there  is  no  ex- 
planation of  the  world  except  the  living  God; 
and  Theism,  therefore,  is  regaining  ground  with 
the  philosophers. 

All  this  prepares  a  scholarly,  rational  basis 
for  the  great  central  truth  of  the  Christian's 
Bible,  namely,  the  doctrine  of  God,  and  bodes 
well  for  all  true  theology.  Speaking  of  the- 
ology as  "the  science  of  God,"  who  is  "the  be- 
ginning, the  middle,  and  the  end  of  all  things," 
President  Hartranft  well  declares  that  it  is  "the 
starting  point  and  goal  of  all  genuine  knowledge 
as  a  whole,  and  of  all  classified  knowledges." 

Turning  now  to  the  church,  whose  mission  in- 
cludes the  popularization  of  the  truth  respecting 
God  and  theology,  as  thus  conceived,  it  can  not 
be  said  to  have  been  altogether  successful  in  this 
work.  Too  many  persons  in  our  so-called 
Christian  country  either  wholly  ignore  the 
church,  or  shirk  all  responsibility  in  regard  to  it. 
Careful  investigation  in  hundreds  of  towns  and 
several  different  states  shows,  according  to  Jo- 
siah  Strong,  "that  somewhat  less  than  one-half 
the  people  profess  to  attend  church"  ("New 
Era,"  p.  294). 

Such  conditions  present  a  problem  which  for 
the  most  part  must  be  solved  by  the  coming 
ministry.  When  the  ministry  can  adapt  the 
gospel  to  the  varied  needs  of  a  varied  modern 
people,  there  will  not  be  so  much  cause  for  lamen- 
tation   over   the   separation    of   the   masses    and 


THE  THEOLOGICAL  EDUCATION     33 

the  church.  Of  course,  without  the  help  of  the 
church  and  the  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
any  ministry  can  do  little;  but  "Like  priest,  like 
people"  contains  truth.  All  this  invests  the  sub- 
ject of  theological  education  with  burning  in- 
terest. 

Further,  the  minister's  relative  position  in  so- 
ciety has  greatly  changed  during  recent  decades. 
He  is  no  longer  expected  to  be  the  only  educated 
man  in  his  community.  This  indicates  a  great 
change  since  the  time  when  more  than  half  of  all 
college  graduates  entered  the  ministry.  Col- 
lege graduates  now  enter  all  walks  in  life,  and 
the  minister  must  be  prepared  to  face  them  in 
the  pew.  Of  Harvard  graduates,  during  1642 
to  1650,  fifty-three  and  three  tenths  per  cent, 
entered  the  ministry,  while  during  1861  to  1870, 
six  and  seven-tenths  per  cent,  entered  the 
ministry.  During  1702  to  1710,  of  Yale  gradu- 
ates, seventy-five  and  seven-tenths  per  cent,  en- 
tered the  ministry,  while  during  1861  to  1870, 
fifteen  per  cent,  did  so. 

The  Wesleyan  University,  somewhat  remark- 
able to  know,  forms  the  single  exception,  show- 
ing, as  it  does,  an  increased  per  cent,  of  its 
graduates  entering  the  ministry.^ 

1  "College  Graduates  in  the  Ministry,"  by  C.  F.  Thwing, 
International  Review,  August,  1881: — This  article  is  brief, 
thoughtful,  comprehensive.  It  is  valuable  for  its  tables 
exhibiting  the  number  of  graduates,  the  number  entering 
the  ministry,  and  the  percentage  of  such  to  all  others,  in 
Harvard,    Yale,    Princeton,    Brown,    Columbia,    Amherst, 


34  KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

Again,  the  minister's  competition  has  in- 
creased. The  telegraph  and  the  press  report  the 
world's  happenings  at  the  morrow's  breakfast- 
table.  The  successful  minister  must  adapt  him- 
self to  these  new  conditions.  He  can  no  longer 
be  an  educated  giant  among  pigmies ;  but  the 
times  demand  for  him  an  education  which  shall 
make  him  a  respected  leader  among  men. 
"Every  church  should  be  able  to  say  to  each 
sneering  disciple  of  unchristian  culture:  'My 
pastor  is  every  way  your  peer'  "  {Bibliotheca 
Sacra,  Vol.  36,  p.  187). 

And  finally,  we  note  that  with  the  changes 
mentioned,  as  regards  the  minister's  relative  po- 
sition   in    society,    and    with    the    minister's    in- 

Oberlin  and  Wesleyan  University,  calculated  for  each  dec- 
ade since  the  founding  of  these  institutions  down  to  1870. 
The  following  are  indicative: — 

Entered 

Years.     Graduates,  the  Ministry.    Per  Cent. 

Harvard    ...1642-1650           45  26  53.3 

1861-1870         997  67  6.7 

Yale    1702-1710           33  25  75.7 

1861-1870        1012  152  15 

Princeton  ...1748-1760          161  80  50 

1861-1870          622  132  21.2 

Brown    1769-1780           60  21  35 

1861-1870          383  86  22.4 

Oberlin 1837-1840           56  37  66 

1861-1870         201  64  31.3 
Wesleyan 

University.  1833-1840         142  55  38.7 

1841-1850          363  102  28.1 

1851-1860         276  131  47.4 

1861-1870         263  123  46.8 


THE  THEOLOGICAL  EDUCATION     35 

creased  and  increasing  competition,  there  are 
also  greater  demands  made  upon  him  than  ever 
before.  These  are  present-day  demands,  and  to 
satisfy  them  the  minister  must  have  received  a 
present-day  education.  In  this  relation  presi- 
dent Eliot  remarks :  "There  is  no  social  prob- 
lem to-day,  however  difficult,  upon  which  the 
minister  is  not  expected  to  have  his  mind  made 
up,  and  to  be  ready  for  action.  Yet  the  evils  to 
which  these  problems  relate  are  extraordinarily 
complicated  in  their  origin  and  development ;  and 
the  remedies  for  them  are  notoriously  difficult 
to  devise  and  apply,  slow-working  and  hard  to 
follow  out  in  practical  operation.  Sentiment  is 
a  very  unsafe  guide  in  these  matters ;  and  the 
coolest  philosopher,  acquainted  with  political 
economy,  medicine  and  the  history  of  legislation 
on  behalf  of  public  morality,  will  be  often  at 
fault.  All  these  difficulties  which  beset  the 
minister  of  to-day  are  of  recent  origin;  in  this 
country  they  hardly  antedate  the  present 
century." 

With  these  preconsiderations  before  us,  we 
take  up : 

II.  A  Representation  of  the  Present  State  of 
Theological  Education.  In  the  following  we 
give  only  the  results  of  our  investigation  with- 
out discussion.  For  completeness  of  view  we 
mention  the  Roman  Catholic  and  Protestant 
State  Church  systems  of  ministerial  education, 
and  refer  the  curious  to  an  article  in  the  Metho- 


36         KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

dist  Quarterly  Review  for  January,  1872,  by 
Warren,  entitled,  "Two  Systems  of  Ministerial 
Education ;"  and  to  an  article  in  the  Contempor- 
ary Review  for  April,  1879,  by  Littledale,  bear- 
ing the  title,  "The  Professional  Studies  of  the 
English  Clergy." 

Little  more  than  bare  mention  can  be  made  of 
the  Methodist  system  of  Conference  study,  which 
was  styled  by  Kidder  as  "A  system  of  mini- 
sterial training  or  education  in  the  ministry 
for  the  ministry."  Probably  no  part  of  the 
Methodist  economy  has  been  more  useful  in  giv- 
ing to  Methodism  unity  and  force  for  leadership 
than  has  its  educational  system.  It  is  signifi- 
cant that  the  Congregational  churches  have  re- 
cently adopted  a  plan  involving  the  main 
features  of  the  Methodist  system  of  Conference 
study,  as  can  be  seen  from  "The  Education  for 
the  Ministry,"  by  Gillett,  published  by  the  Hart- 
ford Seminary  Press. 

Confining  ourselves  now  to  a  study  of  the 
Protestant  churches  of  the  United  States,  it  is 
not  too  much  to  say  that  earnest  thought  is  be- 
ing given  to  discover  what  is  the  theological 
education  demanded  by  the  times ;  and  great  ef- 
forts are  being  made  to  provide  just  that  educa- 
tion which  will  satisfy  those  demands.  The 
problem  is  not  an  easy  one,  and  its  solution  can 
be  only  relatively  successful  in  any  case. 

We  have  carefully  examined  the  catalogues  of 
the  following  theological  schools,  namely,  Boston, 


THE  THEOLOGICAL  EDUCATION     37 

Drew,  and  Garrett  (Methodist  Episcopal)  ; 
Princeton  (Presbyterian)  ;  Rochester  and  South- 
ern Baptist  (Baptist)  ;  General  Theological, 
New  York,  and  Episcopal  Theological,  Cam- 
bridge, Massachusetts  (Episcopal)  ;  Oberlin, 
Bangor  and  Hartford  (Congregational)  ;  Tufts 
(Universalist)  ;  Meadville  (Unitarian)  ;  and 
Harvard  (undenominational).  We  have  tabu- 
lated the  results  under  the  following  heads  :  ( 1 ) 
To  whom  open;  (2)  Kind  of  course;  (3) 
Length  of  course;  (4)  Graduation. 

(1)  With  two  exceptions  (Meadville  and 
Tufts)  applicants  for  admission  must  be  pro- 
fessing Christians,  and  in  most  cases  they  must 
be  members  of  some  church.  One  school  (Gen- 
eral Theological  Seminary,  Episcopal)  is  open 
only  to  communicants  of  the  Episcopal  Church. 
Most  of  the  schools  are  open  only  to  candidates 
for  the  ministry,  or  to  those  preparing  for  some 
special  form  of  Christian  work.  To  admit 
others  is  exceptional.  As  to  the  admission  of 
women,  many  of  the  catalogues  are  silent,  though 
it  is  known  that  women  are  admitted  to  many  of 
the  schools  on  equal  terms  with  men.  Probably 
all  the  schools  sometimes  admit  "special  stu- 
dents," and  likewise  "graduate   students." 

Individual  schools  make  other  minor  conditions 
of  admission,  which  we  need  not  here  detail. 

(2)  The  various  curriculums  may  be  classi- 
fied as  follows:  (a)  In  twelve  schools  the  course 
is  partly  prescribed  and  partly  elective;  (b)   In 


38         KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

two  schools  (Harvard  and  Southern  Baptist) 
the  elective  principle  dominates.  The  trend  is 
toward  more  electives.  Ten  years  ago  more  than 
half  of  these  schools  offered  only  a  prescribed 
course  for  candidates  for  graduation.  More 
and  more  is  afforded  the  opportunity  for  the  in- 
dividual to  perfect  the  peculiar  gift  which  God 
gave  him.  The  schools  are  alive  to  the  demands 
of  the  age,  as  is  seen  by  the  new  courses  con- 
stantly added,  such  as  religions,  and  religion  in 
general,  sociological  studies,  including  missions, 
ethics,  polity,  administration,  etc. 

(3)  In  every  case  the  regular  course  contem- 
plates at  least  a  three-years'  period  of  study. 

(4)  Most  of  the  schools  studied  confer  a  the- 
ological degree  upon  those  who  complete  the 
regular  course,  provided  that  they  have  before 
received  the  college  degree  of  A.B.,  or  its  equiva- 
lent. 

There  may  now  be  offered  for  further  con- 
sideration and  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter: 

III.  A  Suggested  Scheme  of  Theological 
Education  in  harmony  with  what  is  conceived  to 
be  the  demand  of  the  times. 

First,  we  are  convinced  that  the  best  place  to 
study  theology  is  in  a  theological  seminary 
which  is  in  friendly  alliance  with  a  university. 
This  university  alliance  is  most  important. 
Work  elected  in  other  departments  by  students 
in  the  seminary  should  be  credited  to  the  semi- 
nary degree,  and  vice  versa. 


THE  THEOLOGICAL  EDUCATION     39 

Second,  beneficiary  funds  should  be  carefully 
guarded  and  wisely  bestowed.  Young  persons 
should  not  be  bribed  to  enter  the  ministry,  any 
more  than  they  should  be  bribed  to  enter  the  pro- 
fessions. This  cannot  be  too  strongly  insisted 
upon.  And  no  conditions  calculated  in  any 
way  to  hinder  the  free  display  of  intellectual 
honesty  in  the  future  should  be  attached  to  any 
beneficiary  endowments.  We  think  this  applies 
to  the  condition  on  which  Methodist  students  in 
one  of  our  best  Methodist  theological  institutions 
are  given  "free"  scholarships.  We  refer  to  the 
promise  which  Methodist  students  who  receive 
such  scholarships  are  required  to  make,  not  to 
enter  the  ministry  of  any  other  denomination 
"before,  or  within  five  years  after,"  severing  con- 
nection with  the  school,  on  pain  of  forfeiting 
$100,  with  interest,  for  each  year  of  attendance 
at  the  school.  We  note  also  a  semblance  of  con- 
straint in  this  matter,  since  it  is  not  known  by 
prospective  students  that  such  a  promise  is  re- 
quired until  after  they  are  allowed  to  get  on  the 
grounds,  without  being  advised  by  catalogue  or 
otherwise  that  the  acceptance  of  the  "free"  tui- 
tion, etc.,  will  in  any  sense  require  a  signing  away 
of  their  moral  freedom  for  the  future.  Even  if 
such  notice  were  inserted  in  the  catalogue,  yet 
the  bestowment  of  beneficiary  funds  upon  such 
conditions  would  be  most  impolitic,  and  far  from 
complimentary  to  the  great  church  under  whose 
auspices  this  school  has  been  endowed.     These 


40         KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

fearless  times  in  which  we  Hve  demand  that  the 
gospel  minister  shall  not  be  subsidized;  and  cer- 
tainly the  Methodist  Church  wants  no  one  in  her 
ministry  who  may,  under  any  possible  construc- 
tion, be  held  there  on  pain  of  forfeiting  $300,  or 
any  part  thereof,  should  he  leave  it  for  the 
ministry  of  some  other  denomination. 

Third,  the  course  of  study  should  be  wholly 
elective.  The  studies  offered  for  election  should 
be  determined  with  a  view  to  their  practical 
bearing,  directly  or  indirectly,  on  the  work  of  the 
ministry,  by  the  same  authorities  who  at  present 
determine  the  scope  and  character  of  the  required 
studies. 

Hebrew  is  already  elective  in  some  schools,  and 
such  opens  the  way  to  better  results  on  the  part 
of  those  who  elect  the  study  of  Hebrew,  since 
they  are  no  longer  hindered  by  those  who  have 
no  talent  for  the  study.  To  those  who  object 
that  a  knowledge  of  Hebrew  is  necessary  to  an 
understanding  of  the  Jewish  Scriptures,  we  re- 
ply that  Old  Testament  theology  can  be  nearly 
as  effectively  studied  in  English,  and  all  the  char- 
acteristic advantages  of  the  historical  method 
may  be  secured  without  a  knowledge  of  the  He- 
brew. Most  ministers  must  take  their  Hebrew 
on  authority  anyhow,  and  it  is  a  pity  to  compel 
every  one  to  put  in  so  much  time  only  to  secure 
such  a  smattering  of  Hebrew  as  will  be  of  no 
practical  use  in  the  future. 

Theology   is   the    science    of   God   in    all   His 


THE  THEOLOGICAL  EDUCATION     41 

manifold  manifestation.  No  one  can  master  it 
all.  The  times  demand  that  power  shall  be  gen- 
erated in  the  theological  school,  not  that  a 
smattering  of  many  things  shall  be  taught. 

Fourth,  opportunities  for  theological  educa- 
tion should  be  provided  for  laymen.  In  ad- 
ministration laymen  have  been  put  forward. 
Why  should  they  be  excluded  from  theological 
training?  We  agree  with  Briggs,  that  "theo- 
logical education  should  be  free,  open  to  any 
man  or  woman  who  has  sufficient  elementary 
training  to  pursue  these  studies." 

We  believe  also  that  persons  of  good  moral 
character,  though  non-Christian,  should  be  ad- 
mitted to  study  in  the  theological  schools.  It 
was  Jesus  who  said :  "Ye  shall  know  the  truth, 
and  the  truth  shall  make  you  free."  In  these 
times  the  spirit  of  inquiry  has  become  relent- 
lessly candid  and  fearless.  The  age  no  longer 
seeks  for  proof  of  foredrawn  conclusions,  but 
rather  for  the  truth  itself  in  the  open  field,  re- 
gardless of  consequences.  Why  should  one  who 
is  earnest  and  who  desires  to  study  in  a  theolog- 
ical school  be  obliged  to  draw  his  main  conclu- 
sion before  entering  upon  his  investigation? 
This  age  demands  a  theological  education  which 
is  candid,  fearless,  honest,  and  open  to  all  ear- 
nest men  and  women. 

We  should  not  only  grant,  but  insist,  that 
the  doors  of  the  Christian  ministry  ought  never 
to  be  opened  to  any  but  to  the  called  of  God. 


42         KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

But  the  multitude  of  educated  men  and  women 
who  are  now — largely  because  of  the  one-sided 
character  of  their  education — indifferent  to  the 
church,  should  be  given  equal  privileges  with  all 
others  in  the  study  of  the  great  themes  lying 
within  the  sphere  of  theological  inquiry. 

Fifth,  the  theological  degree  should  follow  the 
completion  of  a  three-years'  course  of  approved 
elective  study,  but  it  should  be  conferred  only 
upon  those  already  having  the  collegiate  degree 
of  A.B.,  or  its  equivalent. 

Sixth,  there  should  be  opportunity  for  and 
recognition  of  post-graduate  study. 

Seventh,  those  whose  preparation  or  time  pre- 
cludes the  taking  of  a  three-years'  course,  should 
be  allowed  to  elect  such  studies  for  a  shorter 
period  as  their  time  and  preparation  will  per- 
mit. All  "short  course"  students,  as  far  as 
practicable,  should  be  thrown  with  those  taking 
the  same  studies  even  though  in  another  course. 

Finally,  the  church  itself — and  this  applies  to 
any  denomination — should  forever  continue  to 
pronounce  upon  each  candidate  as  to  eligibility 
to  orders.  No  one  ought  to  be  given  the  au- 
thority of  a  Christian  church  to  conduct  the 
offices  of  the  ministry  whom  God  has  not  called 
to  that  ministry.  "No  man  taketh  this  honor 
unto  himself,  but  he  that  is  called  of  God,  as  was 
Aaron"  (Heb.  v,  4).  The  church  is  bound  to 
hold  and  exercise  the  right,  so  far  as  its  authority 
and  sanction  may  extend,  to  pronounce  upon  the 


THE  THEOLOGICAL  EDUCATION     43 

evidence  of  genuineness  of  the  alleged  divine 
call.  The  candidate's  personal  religious  creed 
and  experience,  besides  his  knowledge  of  and 
sympathy  with  the  history,  traditions  and  polity 
of  the  particular  denomination,  should  be  ex- 
amined into  by  the  church,  such  being  among 
the  elements  determining  his  fitness  or  unfitness 
for  the  work  of  the  ministry  in  that  church.  In 
a  course  of  theological  studies  open  for  election, 
provision  should  be  made  for  those  especially 
who  wish  to  study  the  history,  polity,  etc.,  of 
the  denomination  to  which  the  school  is  indebted 
for  its  existence.  The  proposition  insisted  upon 
is  this,  that  the  conditions  of  admission  to  the 
Christian  ministry,  and  the  conditions  of  ad- 
mission to  a  theological  school,  ought  not  to  be 
the  same.  The  church  and  the  schools  have 
largely  erred  in  the  past  at  this  point.  The 
theological  schools  ought  not  to  be  considered 
special  guardians  of  denominational  orthodoxy, 
and  they  can  serve  the  church  and  humanity  as 
well,  and  better,  when  all  parties  cease  to  expect 
them  to  be  such.  The  doors  of  the  theological 
school  should  be  wide  open ;  the  doors  of  the 
Christian  ministry  should  be  well  guarded. 


THE   OPPORTUNITIES   OF   THE   MINIS- 
TRY AS  A  LIFE  WORK 

It  is  probably  true  that  "No  man  is  born  into 
the  world  whose  work  is  not  born  with  him,"  but 
it  is  also  true  that  for  the  proper  life-work  of 
every  man  there  is  opportunity  ready-made,  or 
which  can  be  made,  for  its  accomplishment. 

In  the  consideration  of  any  suggested  life- 
work  for  the  doing  of  which  there  is  little  or  no 
opportunity,  ready-made  or  which  can  be  made, 
one  may  put  it  down  as  sure  that  such  is  not 
one's  work.  When  considering  the  question  of  a 
life-work,  when  trying  to  find  out  what  God 
wants  one  to  do  as  one's  part  in  the  world's 
work,  as  one's  part  with  Him  in  the  redeeming 
and  perfecting  of  the  race,  it  is  perfectly  proper 
to  ask  concerning  the  opportunities  of  any  sug- 
gested field  for  labor.  Opportunity  plus  need 
is  the  voice  of  God's  order,  and  where  opportu- 
nity is  not,  and  can  not  be  made,  God  does  not 
command  anyone  there  to  work.  Therefore  it 
is  proper  that  one  should  consider  the  opportu- 
nities of  the  ministry  as  a  life-work. 

And  be  it  noted  first  of  all  that  every  age  has 

had  its  apostles  of  complaint  and  despair,  and 

our    age    affords    no    exception.     We   have    our 

apostles   of  hopeless  atheism,  such  as   Schopen- 

4.4! 


MINISTRY'S  OPPORTUNITIES       45 

hauer,  whose  highest  message  is  pessimism  and 
despair. 

Conditions  could  not  be  much  worse  than 
those  anticipated  by  Paul  in  the  first  century. 
"For  men,"  said  he,  "shall  be  lovers  of  their 
own  selves,  covetous,  boasters,  proud,  blas- 
phemers, disobedient  to  parents,  unthankful,  un- 
holy, without  natural  affection,  trucebreakers, 
false  accusers,  incontinent,  fierce,  despisers  of 
those  that  are  good,  traitors,  heady,  high-minded, 
lovers  of  pleasure  more  than  lovers  of  God; 
having  a  form  of  godliness,  but  denying  the 
power  thereof.  .  .  ."  (2  Tim.  iii,  2-5.) 
Even  in  our  own  day  Dwight  L.  Moody  said  in 
the  Independent  of  October  5th,  1893,  that 
"there  is  every  indication  that  the  present  dis- 
pensation will  end  in  a  great  smash-up."  All 
such  pessimism  is  based  on  the  assumption  that 
the  world  is  now  waxing  "worse  and  worse,"  that 
Protestantism  is  a  failure,  that  Christianity  is 
breaking  down,  and  that  the  church  as  organ- 
ized in  the  world  is  losing  ground,  that  the  min- 
istry has  lost  its  power  and  influence  among 
men.  A  writer  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly  said  not 
very  long  ago:  "The  disintegration  of  religion 
has  proceeded  rapidly.  .  .  .  The  church  is 
now,  for  the  most  part,  a  depository  of  social 
rather  than  religious  influences.  Its  chief  force 
is  no  longer  religious."  There  are  indeed  those 
who  look  back  to  the  past  for  the  golden  age 
of  the  church,  and  these  are  they  who   always 


46         KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

talk  of  the  "good  old  days"  of  the  church's  his- 
tory. It  may  have  been  to  one  of  these  who  be- 
lieved that  the  golden  age  of  the  church  was 
past  and  that  the  door  of  opportunity  was  clos- 
ing to  the  Christian  ministry  and  that  the  age 
of  conquest  was  finished,  to  whom  Whittier 
wrote : 

"Idly  as  thou^  in  that  old  day 

Thou  mournest,  did  thy  sire  repine; 
So  in  his  time,  thy  child  grown  gray 

Shall   sigh   for  thine. 
But  life  shall  on  and  upward  go; 

The  eternal  step  of  progress  beats 
To  that  grand  anthem,  calm  and  slow, 

Which  God  repeats. 

Wake  then  and  watch!     The  world  is  gray 
With  morning  light." 

In  approaching  the  question  of  the  ministry, 
and  especially  the  opportunities  of  the  ministry, 
as  a  life  work,  the  proposition  may  be  oifered 
that  there  has  never  been  a  time  when  there  was 
so  much  Christian  faith  among  men  as  there 
is  to-day ;  that  Christianity  is  distinctly  a  grow- 
ing factor  in  the  world's  thought  and  life;  that 
the  conception  of  the  sphere  and  activities  of 
the  church  and  of  the  ministry  was  never  so 
wide  as  it  is  to-day;  that  the  average  Christian 
minister  never  stood  more  firmly  and  squarely 
upon  the  earth  where  men  live,  nor  ever  reached 


MINISTRY'S  OPPORTUNITIES       47 

more  nearly  up  to  heaven  into  the  immediate 
presence  of  God's  throne  than  he  does  to-day. 

In  the  second  place  we  must  freely  recognize 
that  the  minister's  relative  position  in  society 
has  greatly  changed  during  the  recent  decades. 
For  a  discussion  of  this  changed  relative  posi- 
tion of  the  minister  in  society  the  reader  is  re- 
ferred to  the  preceding  essay  on  the  "Theological 
Education  Demanded  by  the  Times."  We  must 
freely  admit  important  changes  to  have  taken 
place  in  recent  years  in  the  relative  position  of 
the  minister  in  society  and  also  in  the  notable 
increase  in  the  competition  which  the  minister 
has  to  meet  in  the  prosecution  of  his  work. 

Other  changes,  which  have  an  important  bear- 
ing upon  our  inquiry,  have  also  taken  place  in 
the  prevailing  notion  of  the  ministry  itself.  But 
before  considering  these  changes  and  their  bear- 
ing upon  the  opportunities  of  the  ministry  our 
attention  should  be  called  to  the  fact  that  op- 
portunity is  a  notion  largely  relative  to  the  in- 
dividual who  is  to  consider  it.  What  to  one 
person  would  seem  to  constitute  splendid  op- 
portunity would  seem  to  another  person  to  af- 
ford no  opportunity  worth  considering.  In  the 
weighing  of  any  suggested  opportunity  not  more 
depends  upon  objective  conditions,  involving  as 
they  do  the  field  of  possible  action,  than  de- 
pends upon  the  one  considering  the  question. 
And  especially  in  estimating  the  opportunities 
of  any  field  for  a  life-work  as  much  will  depend 


48         KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

in  the  equation  upon  the  subjective  as  upon  the 
objective  factors.  The  way  in  which  any  young 
man  will  view  the  opportunities  of  the  ministry 
will  ultimately  be  determined  by  what  the  young 
man  himself  is.  The  subjective  factor  will 
weigh  more  here  than  the  objective  to  determine 
a  young  man's  final  view.  How  any  young  man 
shall  view  the  opportunities  of  the  ministry  to- 
day will  chiefly  be  determined,  first,  by  that 
man's  mental  and  moral  attitude,  by  his  estimate 
of  life's  primary  and  general  mission  and,  sec- 
ondly, by  his  personal  gifts,  natural  and  ac- 
quired. 

If  our  thinking  has  been  valid  thus  far  we 
may  now  freely  acknowledge  that  times  have 
greatly  changed  and  that  these  changes  have  been 
such  as  to  affect  greatly  the  character  of  the  min- 
istry as  a  profession,  and  also  to  modify  greatly 
the  opportunities  which  the  ministry  offers  to 
young  men  about  to  enter  upon  a  life-work. 

But  we  shall  have  to  insist  in  the  third  place 
that  these  changes  which  have  taken  place  in 
business,  which  have  revolutionized  educational 
ideals  and  methods,  which  have  democratized  so- 
cial ideals,  which  have  discovered  to  mankind  the 
worlds  of  science,  and  which  have  so  completely 
mellowed,  moralized  and  vitalized  philosophy  and 
theology — we  shall  have  to  insist  that  these 
changes  have  been  such  in  practically  every  field 
as  to  widen  and  make  more  important  the  op- 
portunities of  the  Christian  ministry  as  a  life- 


MINISTRY'S  OPPORTUNITIES       49 

work  for  one  who  desires  nothing  so  much  as 
to  be  of  service  to  humanity,  to  be  free  to  think 
and  speak  and  act,  and  to  grow  in  wisdom  and 
true  goodness. 

It  is  the  author's  conviction  that  the  rational 
warrant  for  religion  was  never  so  widely  recog- 
nized as  it  is  to-day. 

One  important  mission  of  the  Christian  min- 
ister of  to-day  is  the  popularization  of  the  truth 
respecting  God  and  theology,  as  thus  conceived. 

If  one  desires  financial  riches  above  all  else, 
the  ministry  is  not  for  him.  The  salary  of  the 
average  Christian  minister  is  not  equal  to  that 
of  an  average  skilled  mechanic.  If  the  objects 
of  life  are  to  be  wealth,  or  fame,  political  power, 
glory,  ease  or  self-indulgence,  then  the  opportu- 
nities of  the  ministry  will  not  be  worth  consider- 
ing. If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  attainment  of 
the  higher  satisfactions  is  to  be  the  object  of 
life ;  if  one  desires  to  be  of  service,  to  be  free 
in  the  freedom  of  truth  wherewith  Christ  makes 
free,  and  continually  to  grow,  then  the  opportu- 
nities of  the  ministry  are  at  least  equal  to  those 
of  any  other  calling,  and  in  definite  particulars 
are  such  as  to  demand  careful  thought  from 
every  Christian  and  especially  from  every  edu- 
cated young  man. 

Does  a  young  man  really  want  to  live  a  life 
of  service?  How  can  he  more  directly  serve  this 
age  than  by  a  manifestation,  in  the  face  of  com- 
mercialism, of  real  hungering,  not  after  money. 


50         KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

but  after  righteousness  and  the  rule  of  God  in 
the  business  of  men?  There  is  certainly  need 
to-day  for  men  who  are  willing  to  serve  their 
age  like  that. 

Religion  is  the  most  universal  interest  in  life. 
And  the  Christian  minister  is  set  to  be  a  prophet 
of  religion.  It  is  the  minister's  opportunity  to 
listen  to  the  voices  of  the  spirit  and  then  to 
prophesy  to  men.  Two  and  three  times  or  more 
every  week  the  minister  has  an  opportunity  of 
speaking  out  of  his  inmost  thinking  to  at  least 
a  few  of  the  most  earnest  minded  people  in  the 
community,  the  deepest  message  God  has  been 
able  to  give  him.  Many  who  ought  to  be 
prophets  are  too  hard  of  hearing  and  unwilling 
themselves,  and  God  can  not  send  them,  but  there 
are  abundant  opportunities  to  prophesy  for 
those  who  are  equipped  and  willing  to  be  sent. 

Can  you  and  I  doubt  that  there  are  really 
splendid  opportunities  to-day  for  those  who  are 
qualified  to  teach  the  ideas  of  Jesus.''  Men  were 
never  more  weary  with  the  world  than  now  and 
they  desire  someone  who  can  tell  them  about 
true  rest.  Men  were  never  more  hungry  than 
now  for  some  word  from  the  unseen.  If  true 
prophets  will  not  go,  then  the  people  will  listen 
to  the  false  prophets. 

In  every  age  the  true  regenerators  of  society 
have  been  the  prophets  of  God.  They  have  fol- 
lowed inspirations  which  were  breathed  upon 
them  from  the  unseen  world.     They  have  builded 


MINISTRY'S  OPPORTUNITIES       51 

better  than  they  knew  because  they  have  been 
true  in  the  delivery  of  a  message  the  full  mean- 
ing of  whose  contents  they  did  not  know.  They 
have  slowly,  surely,  transformed  the  lives,  the 
thoughts,  the  ideals,  the  loves,  the  hates  of  men. 
Christian  ministers  have  told  the  beauties  of  di- 
vine fatherhood  and  human  brotherhood  and  hu- 
man slavery  has  become  hateful  in  the  sight  of 
men.  They  must  proclaim  the  horrors  and  sel- 
fishness of  the  liquor  traffic,  its  waste  and  wicked- 
ness, its  greed  and  cruelty,  until  men  will  wonder 
after  awhile  that  the  civilized  world  could  have 
ever  tolerated  such  an  unmitigated  curse. 

The  Christian  minister  must  continue  to 
prophesy  the  wrath  of  God  against  lust  and  social 
impurity  until  men  everywhere  shall  revolt  from 
such  supreme  selfishness  and  shall  come  to  hate 
such  treason  and  disloyalty  against  their  fellow 
members  in  the  family  of  God,  and  shall  effectu- 
ally resolve  no  longer  to  desecrate  these  bodies, 
which  God  has  intended  to  be  fit  temples  of  truth, 
with  such  vileness. 

In  an  age  of  commercialism  the  preacher  must 
exalt  the  true  riches ;  against  greed  he  must  warn 
and  protect  the  poor.  He  must  everywhere 
warn  and  counsel  and  summon  men  to  seek  first 
the  things  that  have  eternal   significance. 

Upon  the  surface  of  things  there  have  been 
indeed  great  changes  but  the  fundamental  needs 
of  humanity  are  now  about  what  they  were  in 
the  day  of  Plato  and  Socrates  and  Paul. 


62         KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

The  Kingdom  of  God  never  comes  with  ob- 
servation. The  real  coming  of  social  reform  is 
not  with  blare  of  trumpets.  There  are  great 
opportunities  for  all  men,  who  want  a  part  with 
Jesus  in  the  renewing  and  redeeming  of  men, 
in  the  work  of  the  ministry.  In  the  purifying 
of  society  the  minister  works  from  within.  The 
biggest  opportunities  are  unknown  to  large  num- 
bers of  the  people  and  most  important  results 
are  unheralded.  Quietly,  steadily,  the  work 
goes  on.  The  work  of  the  Christian  ministry  is 
done  without  observation.  A  prize  fight  is 
heralded.  The  man  who  steals  a  million  dollars 
is  famous,  even  if  not  infamous.  But  the  man 
who  turns  a  sinner  from  the  error  of  his  way 
or  who  plans  for  the  salvation  of  a  race  surely 
and  wisely  may  die  unknown.  But  the  work 
goes  on.  As  never  before  the  world  is  open  to 
the  coming  of  the  well-trained  and  thoroughly 
consecrated  Christian  ministry,  and  the  rewards 
are  according  to  the  work,  and  every  man  shall 
have  his  reward. 


VI 

A  STUDY  OF  DOCTRINES 

Any  candid  discussion  of  doctrines  to-day 
ought  to  prove  clarifier  and  corrective  of  the 
views  of  many  Christians  without  seeming  unin- 
teresting or  provincial  to  the  general  reader.  It 
is  believed  that  no  greater  lack  is  seen  to-day  in 
both  the  general  and  special  study  of  doctrines 
than  in  the  all  too  prevalent  want  of  perspective. 
Modern  men  are  learning  to  regard  truth  every- 
where with  a  view  to  right  perspective,  and  as 
a  result  scientific,  political,  social  and  religious 
doctrines  are  coming  to  be  better  understood  as 
to  their  real  worth,  as  to  their  inherent  limita- 
tions and  possible  dangers  when  over-magnified, 
and  as  to  their  practical  importance  when  viewed 
as  the  formulated  results  of  past  thinking.  It 
is  to  be  hoped  that  both  our  general  and  special 
study  of  doctrines  will  more  and  more  free  us 
from  any  provincializing  and  blighting  bondage 
to  the  thinking  of  the  past  generations,  while  at 
the  same  time  fortifying  us  against  the  opposite 
error  of  ignoring  these  formulated  results  of 
past  thinking.  We  must  learn  that  doctrines  are 
made  for  man  and  not  man  for  doctrines.  Doc- 
trines are  to  be  our  servants,  not  our  masters. 
The  present  study  is  an  essay,  therefore,  toward 
the  wider  realization  of  the  true  nature  of  and 
53 


64.         KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

really  practical  importance  of  doctrines  as  set- 
ting forth  the  formulated  results  of  the  thinking 
of  the  past  for  our  instruction   and  counsel. 

Contrary  to  a  somewhat  prevalent  opinion, 
most  of  the  Christian  denominations  had  their 
origin  in  a  revival  rather  than  in  the  preaching 
of  some  new  doctrine  or  doctrines.  For  exam- 
ple, Methodism  has  not  nor  did  it  ever  have  any 
doctrines  which  may  not  also  be  Congregation- 
alist  or  Episcopalian.  The  Wesleys  and  their 
followers  have  recognized  the  importance  of  or- 
ganization and  the  significance  of  doctrinal  state- 
ments. But  when  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  was  organized  it  was  given  "Articles  of 
Religion"  which  were  condensed  for  the  purpose 
from  the  Articles  of  the  Church  of  England. 
And  to-day  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has 
no  ofl^cial  statement  of  doctrines  except  this, 
which  was  borrowed  ready-made  from  the  Church 
of  England,  and  then  cut  down  for  the  use  of 
the  new  church  in  America.  The  founders  of 
the  movement  well  understood  that  they  were  not 
called  to  bring  any  new  doctrines  but  rather  to 
vitalize  those  which  already  were;  the  objective 
was  life,  not  doctrine. 

Particular  attention  is  called  to  the  point  just 
mentioned,  for  it  is  here  that  many  have  erred. 
Danger  lies  in  either  one  of  two  directions. 
Some,  forgetting  this,  have  so  emphasized  the  im- 
portance of  certain  doctrines  as  almost  to  make 
void  the  grace  of  God.     Others  have  so  depre- 


A  STUDY  OF  DOCTRINES  55 

ciated  all  doctrines  as  almost  to  deprive  any  who 
would  follow  them  of  all  the  benefits  of  the 
world's  past  thinking.  The  great  Christian 
doctrines  are  the  formulated  conclusions  of  gen- 
erations of  honest  minds  who  have  thought  upon 
great  themes. 

That  the  church  has  accomplished  far  less  for 
good  than  it  might  have  accomplished,  and  far 
less  than  its  sincere  followers  have  wished  that 
it  should  accomplish  during  the  centuries,  has 
been  without  doubt  largely  owing  to  a  failure  to 
present  the  good  news  that  "God  was  in  Christ 
reconciling  the  world  unto  himself"  with  true 
perspective.  Many  a  time  in  emphasizing  some 
formulated  statement  of  opinion  respecting  some 
speculative  or  even  metaphysical  problem  which 
lay  far  from  the  realm  of  common  life  and  duty, 
zealous  Christians  have  fought  one  another, 
tearing  "the  body  of  Christ,  which  is  the 
church,"  and  hiding,  instead  of  revealing,  the 
grace  of  God  to  the  world.  One  manifest  pur- 
pose of  God  in  Christ  was  to  reveal  Himself  to 
His  children  as  full  of  love  and  grace.  But  it  is 
an  historic  fact  that  many  times  by  an  exag- 
gerated stress  placed  upon  doctrines  this  very 
love  and  grace  of  the  Father  has  been  made  of 
none  effect. 

We  present,  therefore,  as  the  first  proposition 
requisite  to  a  proper  study  of  doctrines  the  fol- 
lowing, negative  in  form  but  positive  in  teach- 
ing: 


56         KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

No  doctrine  should  ever  be  so  em- 
phasized as  to  raise  in  any  mind  the 
idea  that  it  is  ever  to  be  believed  as 
itself  the  object  of  our  faith.  We 
must  not  permit  our  emphasis  upon  or 
the  acceptance  of  any  doctrine  to  con- 
dition or  make  void  the  grace  of  God 
revealed   in   Jesus    Christ. 

The  history  of  the  church  through  the  cen- 
turies furnishes  a  sad  commentary  upon  the  all 
too  general  mistake  of  over-emphasizing  and  of 
unduly  exalting  doctrines.  And  yet  the  oppo- 
site extreme  is  also  to  be  avoided.  There  have 
been,  and  are,  those  who  have  been  so  indifferent 
to  doctrines  that  they  would  pass  without  con- 
sideration the  creeds  and  dogmas  which  repre- 
sent the  best  thinking  of  the  best  minds  in  all 
ages  of  the  church.  So  to  ignore  the  past  is, 
when  rightly  understood,  to  stand  for  the  bald- 
est egotism.  No  one  but  an  egotistic  individual- 
ist would  deny,  if  he  rightly  understood  himself, 
the  importance  of  clear  thought  and  definite  and 
comprehensive  statement,  or  the  value  to  all 
humble  seekers  for  the  truth  of  the  great  doc- 
trines thought  out  and  profoundly  stated  by  the 
fathers. 

I  present,  therefore,  as  the  second  proposition 
requisite  to  a  proper  understanding  of  the  sub- 
ject under  discussion,  the  following,  which  lies 
over  against  the  first: 


A  STUDY  OF  DOCTRINES  57 

No  doctrine  should  be  so  depreciated 
as  to  lead  any  mind  so  to  ignore  it  as 
to  be  deprived  thereby  of  the  strength- 
giving,  safeguarding  and  fortifying 
benefits  which  come  to  everyone  from 
the  thinking  of  the  past. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  no  man  lives  to 
himself  alone,  and  no  man  thinks  to  himself 
alone.  Everyone  owes  it  to  himself,  and  to  the 
family  of  God  on  earth,  that  he  should  place 
himself  firmly  and  intelligently  on  the  definite 
and  formulated  results  of  past  inquiry,  if  so  be 
he  may  climb  therefrom  to  the  nobler  heights 
beyond. 

Being  upon  our  guard,  then,  against  the 
danger  either  of  over-emphasizing  doctrines, 
upon  the  one  hand,  or  of  unduly  depreciating 
them,  upon  the  other,  we  come  now  to  the  very 
important  question:  What  doctrines,  if  any, 
need  to  be  emphasized  to-day?  If  we  have  rea- 
soned correctly  thus  far,  the  question  which  we 
now  consider  is  very  largely  one  of  perspective. 
We  have  already  said  that  the  church  has  accom- 
plished far  less  for  good  than  it  might  have  ac- 
complished, and  far  less  than  its  sincere  follow- 
ers have  wished  that  it  should  accomplish  during 
the  centuries,  without  doubt  largely  because  of 
failure  to  present  the  good  news  that  "God  was 
in  Christ,  reconciling  the  world  unto  Himself," 
with  due  regard  to  perspective.     And,  as  noted 


58         KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

by  Samuel  G.  Green,  "The  perspective  of  truth 
continually  changes."  This  matter  of  present- 
day  perspective  should  determine  for  us  what 
doctrines  in  any  period  most  need  to  be  empha- 
sized. 

It  should  be  here  noted  that  no  sure  standard 
can  be  laid  down  for  different  minds  or  for 
different  periods.  Green's  words  are  again  rel- 
evant. Speaking  of  beliefs  which  underlie  doc- 
trines, he  says:  "Such  beliefs  will  be  held  with 
the  very  varying  strength  of  conviction  and 
sense  of  their  relative  value  to  the  religious  life. 
Certain  of  these  beliefs  will  appear  of  more  im- 
portance than  others ;  and  this  comparative  esti- 
mate, again,  will  vary  in  different  minds." 

Having  regard,  therefore,  to  this  matter  of 
perspective,  I  present  as  my  third  and  positive 
proposition  the  following: 

Those  doctrines  most  need  to  be  em- 
phasized to-day  which  stand  most 
closely  related  to  the  great  subject  of 
the  gospel,  the  restoration  of  prodigals 
to  the  Father;  which  are,  in  other 
words,  in  nearest  identity  to  our  God- 
given  "ministry  of  reconciliation ;  to 
wit,  that  God  was  in  Christ  reconciling 
the  world  unto  himself"  (2  Cor.  v,  18, 
19). 

Finally,  having  regard  to  this  matter  of  per- 
spective, and  believing  that  so  are  correctly  in- 


A  STUDY  OF  DOCTRINES  59 

terpreted  the  needs  of  our  age,  I  am,  therefore, 
convinced  that  of  the  many  great  and  true  doc- 
trines, none  of  which  should  be  depreciated,  and 
all  of  which  should  be  preached,  and  above  all 
should  they  be  explained  line  upon  line  and  pre- 
cept upon  precept,  there  are,  however,  three 
which  need  specially  to  be  emphasized  to-day. 

Since  it  holds  nearest  identity  to  our  God- 
given  "ministry  of  reconciliation,"  I  would  first 
of  all  emphasize  the  great  Christian  doctrine  of 
Christ,  as  the  divine  Son  of  God,  in  whom  and 
by  whom  has  been  revealed  the  gracious  and 
loving  purpose  of  God  the  Father  "that  whoso- 
ever believeth  in  Him  should  not  perish,  but  have 
everlasting  life."  With  the  Apostle  I  would 
declare  before  all:  "If  any  man  is  in  Christ,  he 
is  a  new  creature ;  the  old  things  are  passed 
away ;  behold,  they  are  become  new.  But  all 
things  are  of  God,  who  reconciled  us  to  himself 
through  Christ,  and  gave  unto  us  the  ministry 
of  reconciliation ;  to  wit,  that  God  was  in  Christ 
reconciling  the  world  unto  himself,  not  reckon- 
ing unto  them  their  trespasses,  and  having  com- 
mitted unto  us  the  word  of  reconciliation.  We 
are  ambassadors  therefore  on  behalf  of  Christ, 
as  though  God  were  entreating  by  us :  We  be- 
seech you  on  behalf  of  Christ,  be  ye  reconciled 
to  God"  (2  Cor.  V,  17-20).  I  would  declare 
the  unwillingness  of  God  and  Christ  that  any 
should  perish,  "That  in  all  things  God  may  be 
glorified  through  Jesus  Christ"  (1  Peter  iv,  11). 


60         KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

In  the  second  place,  I  would  emphasize  the 
doctrine  of  faith.  The  writer  in  the  letter  to 
the  Hebrews,  xi,  1,  has  given  a  definition  of  faith. 
By  the  aid  of  a  parenthetical  suggestion  found 
in  Thayer's  Lexicon,  page  202,  under  the  word 
elegkos  one  may  easily  derive  this  translation  of 
that  verse:  "Now  faith  is  firm  trust  in  things 
hoped  for,  the  inwrought  conviction  resulting 
from  the  proving  of  things  in  the  realm  of  the 
unseen."  Faith  may  undoubtedly  run  beyond 
reason  but  it  can  not  run  at  all  without  reason. 
The  faith  which  the  philosophical  writer  of  the 
letter  to  the  Hebrews  had  in  mind  was  something 
more  than  mere  credulity.  In  his  mind  faith 
was  something  based  upon  the  most  rational 
proof.  Now  a  man's  faith  is  the  measure  of  his 
power  to  receive.  Faith  is  the  universal  and  all- 
essential  condition  upon  which  whosoever  will 
may  avail  himself  of  the  gracious  benefits  of  God 
in  Jesus  Christ,  and  without  which  no  one  can 
be  helped  by  any  of  those  benefits.  "For  by 
grace  are  ye  saved  through  faith"  (Eph.  ii,  8). 
"For  I  am  not  ashamed  of  the  gospel:  for  it 
is  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  to  everyone 
that  believeth.  .  .  .  For  therein  is  revealed 
a  righteousness  of  God  from  faith  unto  faith: 
as  it  is  written,  but  the  righteous  shall  live  by 
faith"  (Rom.  i,  16,  17). 

And  in  the  third  place,  I  would  specially  em- 
phasize the  doctrine  of  assurance.  People  are 
everywhere  longing  for  the  sense  of  filial  rela- 


A  STUDY  OF  DOCTRINES  61 

tionship  with  the  Father  such  as  will  make  them 
feel  at  all  times  at  home  in  their  Father's  world. 
They  need  to  be  instructed  how  they  may  know 
that  they  are  "in  Christ."  More  than  a  repeat- 
ing of  the  words  of  the  eighth  chapter  of  the 
letter  to  the  Romans  is  necessary ;  the  words 
must  be  explained.  I  thoroughly  believe  in  the 
desire  of  God  the  Father  that  every  soul  should 
enjoy  a  conscious  filial  relationship  with  Him. 
I  further  believe  that  it  is  the  privilege  of  all 
properly  instructed  souls  thus  consciously  to 
know  the  Father.  Christ  needs  witnesses  to  the 
efficacy  of  divine  grace  through  faith  to  bring 
life  and  peace  and  reconciliation  with  the  Father. 
This  doctrine  of  assurance,  or  the  witness  of  the 
spirit,  needs  to  be  taught  and  explained  and  em- 
phasized to-day  to  the  end  that  more  Christians 
shall  know  whom  they  have  believed,  that  so  they 
may  stand  as  sure,  steady  and  unfailing  wit- 
nesses before  a  wide  world  of  theoretical  agnos- 
ticism, and  that  which  is  too  often  actual  con- 
fusion, if  not  practical  atheism. 


vn 

A  GROUP  OF  STUDIES  OF  THE  LIFE 
AND  TIMES  OF  JESUS 

PRELIMINARY    CONSIDERATIONS. 

The  reader  is  asked  to  consider  four  reasons 
why  all  persons  should  at  this  time  give  earnest 
study  to  the  life  and  times  of  Jesus,  namely, 
to  understand  the  spirit  of  our  own  age;  in 
order  to  know  the  man,  the  human  Jesus ;  in 
order  thereby  to  know  that  which  could  not 
otherwise  be  known  about  God;  in  order  by  vir- 
tue of  that  knowledge  to  have  eternal  life. 

First,  it  is  confidently  asserted  that  without 
a  knowledge  of  the  man,  the  human  Jesus,  one 
can  not  understand  that  which  is  deeply  charac- 
teristic of  the  spirit  of  our  age.  Ours  is  a 
Christ-ward  age.  It  is  marked  by  a  profound 
interest  in  everything  pertaining  to  the  earthly 
life  of  Jesus  who  was  called  Christ.  We  have 
seen  a  list  of  more  than  five  hundred  biographies 
of  Jesus.  Books  are  written  and  published  to 
satisfy  a  demand.  And  the  people  of  to-day  are 
eager  for  anything  that  will  make  Jesus  better 
known. 

A    great    host    of    young   people    are    to-day 

pledged   for   "Christ   and  the   Church,"   and   in 

that    motto    "Christ"    always    goes    before    the 

"Church."     The  eyes   of  the  toilers   are  turned 

62 


A  GROUP  OF  STUDIES  63 

toward  Jesus  to-day  as  never  before, — except, 
perhaps,  when,  'tis  said,  the  "common  people 
heard  him  gladly"  in  Galilee.  Certainly  all 
parents,  students  in  our  schools,  and  all  others, 
who  wish  in  the  best  sense  to  be  abreast  of  the 
time,  must  not  know  more  of  Alexander  or 
Caesar  than  they  do  of  him  whose  life  and  teach- 
ing have  made  our  twentieth  century  civilization, 
and  especially  its  spirit,  possible. 

A  second  reason  for  the  present  study  is  that 
so  we  may  know  the  human  teacher  and  leader 
of  men,  the  man,  Jesus,  whose  relations  with  the 
people  of  his  time  were  most  interesting,  and 
who  was  universally  acknowledged  to  be  a  very 
remarkable  person.  There  have  been  those  who 
have  sought  to  exalt  Christian  ideas  independ- 
ently of  their  historic  setting.  But  Christian 
ideas  can  not  be  known  without  a  knowledge  of 
Jesus.  One  of  the  six  principles  on  which  F.  W. 
Robertson  based  his  teaching  was  "that  belief  in 
the  human  character  of  Christ's  humanity  must 
be  antecedent  to  belief  in  his  divine  origin." 

We  should  then,  in  the  third  place,  study  the 
life  and  times  of  the  Man  of  Galilee  in  order 
to  know  that  which  could  not  otherwise  be 
known  about  God.  "If  ye  knew  me,  ye  would 
know  my  Father  also."  Jesus  said  to  Philip, 
"He  that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father." 
But  the  world  does  not  yet  know  Jesus  as  it 
ought  to  know  him,  and  therefore  God  is  not 
yet  known  as  He  ought  to  be  known.     From  the 


64         KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

broken  cisterns  of  the  world's  best  thinking,  men 
are  turning  unto  Jesus  that  they  may  find  the 
springs  of  living  water  in  the  mountains  of  God. 
Year  by  year  Jesus  is  proving  to  have  been  the 
most  adequate  revelation  of  God  that  the  world 
has  seen,  full  of  grace  and  truth. 

To  know  Jesus  is  to  know  the  best  that 
mortals  can  know  of  God.  Then  should  men 
study  to  know  Jesus  in  all  his  works  and  ways, 
for  this  is  to  be  forever  alive  unto  the  highest 
and  the  best,  that  is,  alive  unto  God,  that  is, 
to  know  God  and  Jesus  Christ  whom  He  has  sent ; 
and  this  is  eternal  life  (John  xvii,  3).  It  omens 
well  for  the  future  of  the  ethical  life  of  the  race 
when  men  give  themselves  to  a  thorough  study 
of  the  life  and  times  of  Jesus. 

THE    NATION    AND    THE    TIMES    OF    JESUS. 

To  understand  thoroughly  the  life  and  person- 
ality of  any  historical  character  it  is  necessary 
to  study  the  age  in  which  the  person  lived. 
What  were  the  social,  political  and  religious 
stimuli  that  pushed  him  on  and  made  the 
manner  of  his  life  what  it  was.''  In  such  facts 
will  be  found  the  key  to  the  interpretation  of 
much  in  any  life  that  would  otherwise  be  un- 
explained and  unexplainable.  So  may  we  be 
greatly  aided  in  the  discovery  of  the  true  sig- 
nificance of  the  life  to  be  studied.  This  is  not 
less  true  of  the  study  of  Jesus  than  it  is  of  Paul 
or  Luther  or  Wesley.     It  is  true,  no  doubt  in 


A  GROUP  OF  STUDIES  65 

a  sense,  that  God  is  not  coerced  in  His  working 
by  the  ordinary  course  of  human  society,  and 
yet  it  is  also  true  that  the  career  of  Jesus  among 
men  during  his  "humiliation"  was  practically  de- 
termined by  the  nation  and  the  times  in  which 
he  lived. 

A  student  of  the  life  of  Jesus  should  know  the 
nation  and  the  times  (1)  politically,  (2)  so- 
cially, (3)  religiously.  He  should  have  in  mind 
the  story  of  the  nation  from  the  beginning  of 
exile  to  the  national  downfall.  He  should  have 
in  mind  the  end  of  the  Northern  Kingdom  in 
B.C.  722;  the  carrying  of  the  Southern  King- 
dom into  Babylonian  exile  B.C.  588 ;  the  over- 
throw of  the  Babylonian  Kingdom  by  Persia 
B.C.  538;  the  return  of  the  Jews  by  permission 
of  Cyrus  B.C.  536;  the  origin  of  the  Book  of 
Malachi  about  B.C.  442-432;  the  subjugation  by 
Alexander  B.C.  332;  the  death  of  Alexander 
B.C.  323 ;  the  attachment  of  Judea  and  Samaria 
to  Egypt  B.C.  301 ;  the  passing  of  Judea  and 
Samaria  to  the  throne  of  Syria,  upon  which  sat 
Antiochus,  the  great,  B.C.  198;  the  desecration 
of  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem  B.C.  168;  the 
cleansing  of  the  Temple  and  the  Feast  of  Dedi- 
cation B.C.  165 ;  the  gaining  of  complete  inde- 
pendence by  the  Jewish  nation  B.C.  128 ;  the 
passing  of  Judea  under  Rome  B.C.  63 ;  and  the 
reign  of  the  Vassal  King  Herod  B.C.  37-4.  On 
the  death  of  Herod,  who  was  reigning  when 
Jesus  was  born,  the  kingdom  was  divided  among 


66         KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

his  three  sons.  Archelaus  became  Ethnarch  of 
Judea,  Samaria  and  Idumea.  Herod  Antipas 
became  Tetrarch  of  Galilee  and  Perea.  Philip 
became  Tetrarch  of  Iturea  and  Trachonitis. 

Socially,  the  Jews  were  proud  of  their  history, 
their  great  men,  their  Temple,  their  special  rela- 
tion to  Jehovah.  They  were  proud  in  defeat 
not  much  less  than  in  victory.  In  the  period 
from  the  exile  to  the  advent  of  Jesus  the  Jews 
had  learned  much  of  the  world  and  the  world 
had  learned  much  of  the  Jews.  If  we  would 
know  the  Jew  socially  in  the  world  at  the  time 
we  study,  we  shall  have  to  visit  him  in  all  the 
chief  cities  of  eastern  civilization ;  we  shall  have 
to  speak  with  him  in  many  languages  and  dia- 
lects ;  we  shall  find  him  in  as  widely  scattered 
districts  as  Rome  and  Babylon,  Egypt  and 
Greece.  A  few  years  later,  on  the  celebration  of 
the  feast  of  Pentecost  we  find  "at  Jerusalem 
Jews,  devout  men,  out  of  every  nation  under 
heaven."  And  the  author  of  the  book  of  Acts 
enumerates  among  those  present  "Parthians  and 
Medes  and  Elamites,  and  the  dwellers  in  Meso- 
potamia, in  Judea  and  Cappadocia,  in  Pontus 
and  Asia,  in  Phrygia  and  Pamphylia,  in  Egypt 
and  the  parts  of  Libya  about  Cyrene,  and  so- 
journers from  Rome,  both  Jews  and  proselytes, 
Cretans  and  Arabians."  Thus  while  at  home 
politically  the  Jews  had  become  the  dwellers  of 
an  insignificant  province  under  the  government 


A  GROUP  OF  STUDIES  67 

of  Rome,  socially  their  influence  had  never 
reached  farther  than  it  did  when  "in  the  fullness 
of  time"  Jesus  was  born. 

Further,  the  student  should  become  familiar 
with  the  state  of  the  nation  and  the  times  re- 
ligiously. It  must  be  recognized  that  there  was 
a  widespread  decay  of  true  religion  throughout 
the  Roman  Empire,  and  even  among  the  Jews, 
coupled  with  an  extreme  legalistic  religiousness. 
On  the  other  hand  many  weary  ones  were  keep- 
ing fresh  the  memory  of  the  old  prophecies  and 
anxiously  looking  for  the  coming  of  the  Mes- 
sianic King  who  should  deliver  them  from  all 
their  burdens. 

We  will  no  more  than  mention  here  the  great 
political,  social  and  religious  parties  which 
flourished  in  the  time  of  Jesus.  A  student  of 
the  times  at  the  beginning  of  our  era  ought  to 
make  himself  familiar  with  the  tenets  and  charac- 
ter of  the  Pharisees,  the  orthodox  legalistic 
religionists  of  the  time;  the  Sadducees,  the 
coldly  rationalistic  high-priestly  party  and 
their  adherents ;  and  the  Essenes,  the  saintly 
party  of  Come-outers,  liberty-loving  and  right- 
eous. 

Finally,  it  should  be  fully  understood  that  for 
the  Jewish  race,  when  the  bond  of  national  in- 
dependence gave  way,  the  unfailing  hope  of  a 
coming  Messiah  became  the  strongest  unifying 
agency  among  all  the  descendents  of  Abraham. 


68         KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

THE    BIETH    AND    INFANCY    OF    JESUS. 

About  the  middle  of  the  eighth  century  after 
the  founding  of  Rome  there  was  hidden  up  in  the 
hills  of  Galilee  a  small  town  containing  possibly 
a  population  of  two  thousand  people.  The 
houses  were  queer  shaped,  flat-roofed  buildings. 
There  was  a  strange  confusion  of  houses,  thresh- 
ing-floors and  wine-presses.  These  were  ar- 
ranged in  terraces  irregularly  set  in  the  am- 
phitheater-shaped hillside  upon  which  the  town 
was  built.  This  was  Nazareth,  and  it  was  not 
much  different  morally  or  religiously  from  the 
average  village  of  Galilee,  in  spite  of  the  ques- 
tion of  Nathanael,  "Can  any  good  thing  come 
out  of  Nazareth?" 

Nazareth  was  not  a  secluded  place.  One  of 
the  three  caravan  routes  from  Acco  to  Damascus 
passed  through  it.  And  Edersheim  says : 
"Nazareth  was  also  one  of  the  great  centers  of 
Jewish  Temple-life."  It  was  in  such  a  village 
that  we  read  of  Jesus  that  "the  child  grew,  and 
waxed  strong,  filled  with  wisdom;  and  the  grace 
of  God  was  upon  him." 

Of  the  family  of  Jesus  we  know  very  little, 
and  beyond  the  brief  lines  which  we  have  in  our 
gospels  we  know  nothing  of  Joseph  or  Mary. 
We  have  given  certain  facts  which  are  necessary 
for  the  gospel  history  and  that  is  all. 

When  we  open  a  biography  of  Lincoln  or 
Grant  or  any  other  man   of  modem   times   we 


A  GROUP  OF  STUDIES  69 

expect  to  find  many  questions  answered  which, 
as  we  take  up  the  study  of  Jesus,  we  shall  find 
not  even  raised.  Our  gospels  are  strangely 
silent  upon  the  details  of  the  life  of  Jesus.  But 
the  same  may  be  said  of  the  authoritative  biog- 
raphies of  such  ancient  men  as  Isaiah,  Judas 
Maccabeus,  Socrates  or  Plato.  If  we  seek  the 
reason  for  this  we  shall  find  it  in  the  changed 
conditions  of  the  age.  In  our  day  the  printing 
press  has  made  book-making  rapid  and  easy. 
Steam  and  electricity  have  wrought  a  like  change 
for  book  circulation.  Ours  is  an  age  of  cheap 
literature  and  universal  reading.  Men  now 
write  not  so  much  because  they  have  a  message 
which  must  be  delivered,  but  rather  because  there 
is  money  in  it.  Now  the  histories  of  Jesus  were 
not  written  for  that  purpose.  They  were  not 
written  in  response  to  the  cry  for  "copy." 
Therefore  we  should  hold  two  facts  in  mind  when 
we  study  the  life  of  Jesus  and  especially  when 
we  study  the  early  life  of  Jesus.  First,  we 
should  remember  that  any  limitation  or  barren- 
ness of  detail,  which  we  meet  in  the  gospel  nar- 
ratives of  Jesus,  will  be  found  paralleled  in  the 
records  of  any  other  great  character  of  ancient 
times.  No  authentic  biography  of  any  ancient 
character  can  match  for  curiosity-satisfying 
minuteness  our  modern  histories.  And  if  we 
should  find  in  opposition  to  this  universal  rule 
that  the  biographers  of  Jesus  had  made  an  ex- 
ception, that  alone  would  serve  to  raise  in  us  sus- 


70         KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

picion  of  the  whole.  Even  so,  curiosity  was  not 
wanting  in  those  olden  times.  Details  which 
were  made  for  the  sake  of  wonder  and  curiosity 
may  be  found  in  abundance  in  the  Apocryphal 
gospels,  of  which  the  so-called  Gospel  of  Thomas 
is  a  good  illustration.  Cowper  in  his  transla- 
tion of  the  Apocryphal  gospels,  says  of  the 
Gospel  of  Thomas,  "It  may  be  viewed  as  a  col- 
lection of  foolish  traditions,  or  fables,  invented 
to  supply  an  account  of  that  period  in  our 
Lord's  history,  respecting  which  the  genuine 
gospels  are  silent"  (128f). 

We  should  also  remember  a  second  fact  when 
we  turn  to  the  study  of  the  life  of  Jesus  and 
find  ourselves  perplexed  by  the  scantiness  of  the 
details  given.  The  fact  is  that  the  design  of 
the  writers  was  manifestly  other  than  to  gratify 
mere  curiosity.  Speaking  of  "The  Holy  Fam- 
ily" Edersheim  says:  "We  feel  that  the  scanti- 
ness of  particulars  here  supplied  by  the  gospels, 
was  intended  to  prevent  the  human  interest  from 
overshadowing  the  grand  central  fact,  to  which 
alone  attention  was  to  be  directed.  For,  the 
design  of  the  gospels  was  manifestly  not  to 
furnish  a  biography  of  Jesus  the  Messiah,  but, 
in  organic  connection  with  the  Old  Testament, 
to  tell  the  history  of  the  long-promised  estab- 
lishment of  the  kingdom  of  God  upon  earth." 
The  biography  in  the  gospels  is  an  incident, 
though  a  necessary  one.  The  mere  writing  of 
biography  was  not  the  object  which  the  writers 


A  GROUP  OF  STUDIES  71 

set  before  themselves,  but  was  only  an  incident 
involved  in  the  attainment  of  their  real  object, 
which  was  two-fold,  namely,  that  others  might 
know  and  believe  the  gospel  message,  and  that 
thus  believing  they  might  have  life  "in  his  name." 
Read  again  the  preface  to  Luke's  Gospel,  chap- 
ter i,  1-4.  Luke  says  he  writes  to  Theophilus 
(the  Gospel  is  addressed  to  Theophilus),  that  he 
might  "know  the  certainty  concerning  the  things 
wherein  thou  wast  instructed."  John  states  that 
his  object  in  writing  his  Gospel  narrative,  as 
recorded  in  John  xx,  30,  31,  is  "that  ye  may 
believe  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God ; 
and  that  believing  ye  may  have  life  in  his  name." 

And  yet,  what  scanty  details  we  have !  How 
much  more  complete  we  think  we  would  have 
made  it  all !  But  who  shall  say  that  we  have 
not  all  the  details  which  are  in  any  wise  neces- 
sary to  the  true  object  of  the  Gospel  narratives.'' 
What  we  have  is  sufficient  to  span  all  eternity. 
That  marvelous  prologue  of  John's  Gospel 
sweeps  all  eternity  that  is  past.  Read  again 
John  i,  1—18,  which  opens  with  majesty:  "In 
the  beginning  was  the  Word."  The  twenty-fifth 
chapter  of  Matthew  opens  up  the  vision  of 
judgment,  and  the  last  verse  of  the  chapter  looks 
forward  through  eternity. 

Of  Joseph  and  Mary  we  have  the  genealogies 
recorded  by  Matthew  and  Luke.  And  there  are 
hints  that  render  it  well-nigh  certain  that  both 
Joseph   and  Mary   were   in   the   line   of  descent 


72         KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

from  David.  And  therefore  when  the  census 
was  taken,  of  which  Luke  tells  us  in  the  second 
chapter  of  his  Gospel,  "all  went  to  enroll  them- 
selves, everyone  to  his  own  city.  And  Joseph 
also  went  up  from  Galilee,  out  of  the  city  of 
Nazareth,  into  Judea,  to  the  city  of  David,  which 
is  called  Bethlehem,  because  he  was  of  the  house 
and  family  of  David;  to  enroll  himself  with 
Mary,  who  was  betrothed  to  him,  being  great 
with  child."  And  so  it  came  to  pass  that  Jesus 
was  born  in  Bethlehem. 

Two  of  the  Gospel  writers  tell  us  that  Jesus 
was  conceived  by  the  Holy  Spirit  and  bom  of 
the  Virgin  Mary.  These  writers  are  explicit 
upon  this  point.  They  state  it  as  a  fact.  No 
doctrine  is  based  upon  the  statement  in  these 
Gospels  however  nor  is  it  anywhere  else  men- 
tioned in  the  New  Testament.  We  may  also  be 
reminded  that  there  is  really  no  more  mystery 
involved  in  the  miraculous  conception  of  Jesus 
than  there  is  in  the  beginning  of  every  human 
life.  Speaking  of  this  part  of  the  record  Doc- 
tor C.  W.  Rishell  said  in  the  writer's  hearing: 
"There  the  Virgin  Birth  is  not  made  the  basis 
of  an  argument  for  the  divine  nature  of  Jesus. 
We  shall  search  in  vain  in  The  Gospels  which 
record  it  for  any  such  application  of  it.  It  is 
stated  there  as  a  fact  but  no  conclusion  of 
any  kind,  is  drawn  from  or  intimated  in  connec- 
tion with  it.  Nor  is  the  fact  mentioned  or  im- 
plied or   referred  to   in   any   other   portion   of 


A  GROUP  OF  STUDIES  73 

the  New  Testament.  Paul  and  John,  who  so 
strongly  emphasized  the  deity  of  Christ,  do  not 
argue  that  deity  from  the  Virgin  Birth.  This 
does  not  destroy  the  fact  of  his  miraculous  con- 
ception, but  it  shows  us  that  the  writers  of  the 
New  Testament  laid  no  stress  upon  it.  If  Jesus 
was  literally  conceived  by  the  Holy  Ghost  and 
bom  of  the  Virgin  Mary  he  undoubtedly  had  a 
divine  element  in  his  nature.  If,  as  some  think, 
it  is  not  to  be  taken  literally,  that  divine  element 
would  not  be  thereby  disproved." 

When  Jesus  was  eight  days  old  he  was  cir- 
cumcised according  to  Jewish  law  and  christened, 
receiving  the  name  of  Jesus.  And  then  being 
the  first  born  son  he  was  presented  in  due  time 
in  the  Temple  to  be  "redeemed"  of  the  priest. 
This  must  have  been  at  least  thirty-one  days 
after  birth,  and  the  price  of  redemption  was  five 
shekels,  sanctuary  money.  The  mother  could 
not  present  herself  for  the  rite  of  "purification" 
until  forty-one  days  after  the  birth  of  a  son,  or 
eighty-one  days  after  the  birth  of  a  daughter. 
In  the  case  of  Jesus  it  is  probable  that  both 
rites  were  performed  at  the  same  visit  to  the 
temple. 

Then  came  the  Magi  or  wise  men  from  the 
East.  Of  these  men  we  know  very  little.  We 
do  not  know  when  they  came,  nor  do  we  even 
know  how  many  of  them  there  were.  To  our 
curiosity-driven  minds  the  records  are  provok- 
ingly  brief.     We  read  of  Herod's  craftiness  and 


74.         KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

of  his  senseless  and  cruel  murder  of  the  children 
of  Bethlehem  "from  two  years  old  and  under." 
It  was  because  of  Herod  that  the  "Holy  Family" 
fled  to  Egypt.  When  Herod  died  Joseph  and 
Mary  and  the  child  returned,  but,  learning  that 
Archelaus  was  Herod's  successor,  they  withdrew 
into  Galilee  "and  came  and  dwelt  in  a  city  called 
Nazareth;  that  it  might  be  fulfilled  which  was 
spoken  by  the  prophets,  that  he  should  be  called 
a  Nazarene."  And  "the  child  grew,  and  waxed 
strong,  filled  with  wisdom ;  and  the  grace  of  God 
was  upon  him."  Then  it  was  that  the  Sun  of 
Righteousness  was  rising  in  the  eastern  sky. 
Then  it  was  that  the  Light  of  the  World  was 
dawning.  We  now  believe  that  that  Sun  of 
Righteousness  was  none  other  than  the  Eter- 
nal Son  of  God.  That  Babe  of  Bethlehem  was 
to  be  the  Light  of  the  World,  the  Sinless  Man, 
the  Christ  of  God  come  to  earth  for  men. 

THE      CHILDHOOD     HOME     AND     SCHOOL     LIFE     OF 

JESUS. 

We  have  no  detailed  description  of  the  home 
in  which  Jesus  lived,  nor  of  his  school-life.  We 
do  know,  however,  how  most  of  the  people  of 
Nazareth  lived,  and  what  in  general  was  the 
education  given  to  the  child  of  the  average  Jew- 
ish parents.  We  have  besides  a  few  marks  which 
will  help  us  to  a  good  idea  of  what  the  home  and 
school-life  of  Jesus  must  have  been. 

The  house  was,  no  doubt,  square  and  low,  and 


A  GROUP  OF  STUDIES  75 

it  had  no  windows ;  the  door  was  relied  upon  for 
light  and  ventilation.  There  was,  probably, 
only  one  room,  though  it  may  possibly  have 
been  an  exception  to  the  rule,  and  have  had  two, 
or  even  three  rooms.  There  were  no  tables  and 
little  furniture  of  any  kind.  There  would  be 
a  few  rugs  on  the  floor,  and  a  few  garments  hung 
on  the  walls. 

The  family  which  lived  in  this  house  was 
numerous,  consisting  of  Joseph  and  Mary,  five 
sons  and  at  least  two  daughters — in  Mark  vi,  3, 
reference  is  made  to  the  "sisters"  of  Jesus. 
The  boys  were  Jesus,  James,  Joseph,  Jude  and 
Simon. 

Among  the  household  utensils  would,  no  doubt, 
be  a  lamp,  a  broom,  a  "bushel"  and  a  mill.  The 
bushel  turned  bottom  up  would  serve  as  table. 
Chairs  would  not  be  needed  around  that  table. 
The  mill  was  a  hand  affair,  and  Mary  and  her 
daughters  every  morning  ground  the  meal  needed 
for  the  day.  The  principal  meal  was  at  noon. 
Before  sitting  down  all  washed  or  purified  their 
hands,  which  was  a  religious  ceremony.  Fol- 
lowing the  custom  of  the  age,  Joseph  would 
give  thanks,  and  Jesus,  as  the  oldest  son,  when 
a  young  man,  would  offer  brief  prayer.  The 
meal  though  simple  would  be  substantial.  But- 
ter, cheese,  honey  and  parched  corn  no  doubt 
were  there.  Sometimes  grapes,  figs,  locusts  and 
meat  would  be  found  on  the  list.  They  did  not 
suffer   want   in   that   home.     The   necessities    of 


76         KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

life  are  largely  relative,  and  their  requirements 
were  few. 

As  soon  as  Jesus  could  speak,  his  mother 
taught  him  verses  of  the  Bible,  else  he  was  a 
much  neglected  child  among  Jewish  children,  and 
we  know  he  was  not  neglected.  She  first  taught 
him  Deut.  vi,  4,  5 :  "Hear,  O  Israel :  Jehovah  our 
God  is  one  Jehovah :  and  Thou  shalt  love  Jehovah 
Thy  God  with  all  Thy  soul,  and  with  all  Thy 
might."  With  this  proclamation  of  the  unity  of 
God,  she  also  taught  Him  the  special  relation  of 
the  children  of  Israel  to  God,  Deut.  vii,  7 :  "Jeho- 
vah did  not  set  his  love  upon  you,  nor  choose 
you,  because  ye  were  more  in  number  than  any 
people ;  for  ye  were  the  fewest  of  all  peoples : 
but  because  Jehovah  loveth  you." 

The  family  of  Jesus  were  strict  Jews.  Joseph 
and  Mary  were  in  the  habit  of  going  regularly 
to  Jerusalem  to  the  feast  of  the  Passover. 
James  was  always,  even  after  becoming  a 
Christian,  a  strict  Jew.  Professor  Stapfer  sug- 
gests that  "the  piety  of  Jesus  was  no  doubt  of 
another  character;  and  therefore,  it  early  began 
to  distress  his  mother  and  brothers.  The  day 
was  to  come  when  they  would  try  to  hold  him 
back,  to  keep  him  with  them;  would  even  go  so 
far  as  to  suspect  him  of  insanity." 

Jesus  no  doubt  was  sent  to  school  when  he 
was  six  years  old.  The  audience-room  of  the 
synagogue  was  the  place  in  small  villages  where 
the  school  was  held;  in  larger  towns  the  school 


A  GROUP  OF  STUDIES  77 

was  held  in  a  separate  building.  Here  Jesus 
attended  school  until  he  was  ten  or  twelve  years 
old.  Here  he  learned  to  read,  write  and  figure. 
At  the  close  of  this  period  he  in  a  sense  came 
to  his  majority.  He  became  a  "son  of  the  law;" 
that  is,  subject  to  the  discipline  of  the  law. 
Like  all  the  other  Jews  of  Palestine,  Jesus  prob- 
ably morning  and  evening  repeated  the  "Shema" 
as  the  faithful  Roman  Catholic  tells  her  beads. 
The  Shema  included  nineteen  verses — Deut.  vi, 
4-9;  xi,  13-21;  Num.  xv,  37-41.  Later  Jesus 
would  characterize  much  of  this  as  "Vain  repeti- 
tions." 

On  Saturday  (the  Jewish  Sabbath)  Jesus 
would  be  sent  to  the  special  children's  service 
at  the  synagogue. 

"Such,"  says  Stapfer,  "was  the  placid  and 
humble  childhood  of  him  who  holds  the  first  place 
in  the  history  of  humanity,  and  who  has  exer- 
cised a  decisive  influence  upon  the  destinies  of 
the  world ;  of  him  whose  work  is,  without  contra- 
diction, the  most  remarkable  the  annals  of  the 
past  have  bequeathed  to  our  meditation ;  and 
whose  life  divides  the  history  of  our  race  into 
two  parts  which  nothing  can  ever  blend  to- 
gether." 

The  books  of  the  period,  together  with  a  study 
of  persons  contemporary  with  Jesus,  will  show 
us  fairly  well  what  the  child  Jesus  was  taught  to 
believe.  Jesus  and  James  were  undoubtedly 
educated  alike.     They  probably  went  to  school 


78         KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

together,  learned  the  stories  of  Jewish  history 
together,  and  in  James,  the  strict  Jew,  ascetic 
and  austere,  pious,  temperate  and  righteous,  we 
no  doubt  have  the  ripe,  natural  product  of  the 
teaching  and  training  which  the  two  brothers  had 
together. 

"the  eighteen  silent  yeaes." 

Only  forty  words  are  devoted  by  the  author 
of  our  third  Gospel  to  direct  biographical  state- 
ment concerning  the  life  of  Jesus  during  those 
years  which  intervened  between  his  visit  to  Jeru- 
salem at  the  age  of  twelve  and  the  opening  of 
his  public  ministry  at  the  age  of  thirty:  "And 
he  went  down  with  them,  and  came  to  Nazareth; 
and  he  was  subject  unto  them:  and  his  mother 
kept  all  these  sayings  in  her  heart.  And  Jesus 
advanced  in  wisdom  and  stature,  and  in  favor 
with  God  and  men"  (Luke  ii,  51,  52).  The 
years  in  the  life  of  Jesus  from  twelve  to  thirty 
have  been  known,  therefore,  as  "the  eighteen 
silent  years."  And  yet  many  authentic  hints 
have  come  down  to  us  out  of  which  may  be 
gathered  the  sure  outline  even  of  those  years. 

Jesus  was  a  carpenter.  This  we  infer  with 
practical  certainty  from  Mark  vi,  3.  So  also 
was  Joseph  a  carpenter  (Matt,  xiii,  55).  From 
Matt,  xiii,  55,  56,  we  also  infer  that  Jesus  had 
at  least  four  brothers  and  two  sisters. 

Edersheim   ("Life  and  Times,"  etc.,  I,  252) 


A  GROUP  OF  STUDIES  79 

says :  "Among  the  Jews  the  contempt  for  manual 
labor,  which  was  one  of  the  painful  character- 
istics of  heathenism,  did  not  exist.  On  the  con- 
trary, it  was  deemed  a  religious  duty,  frequently 
and  most  earnestly  insisted  upon,  to  learn  some 
trade."  When  Jesus  returned  to  Nazareth  at 
the  age  of  twelve  he  learned  a  trade,  possibly 
in  the  shop  which  Joseph  owned.  When  Joseph 
died,  which  was  probably  before  many  years — 
since  we  have  no  later  mention  of  him  in  the 
gospel  narratives — Jesus  became  the  support  of 
the  family.  I  doubt  not  that  this  fact  of  Jesus 
having  been  a  workingman,  the  chief  support  of 
a  large  family,  has  done  much  to  make  him  be- 
loved by  the  common  people  during  the  centuries. 
In  a  normal,  healthy  life  the  man  is  the  sure 
fulfillment  of  what  the  child  has  been.  And  by 
this  principle  of  judgment  we  can  tell  something 
of  what  Jesus  was  and  what  he  did  during  those 
"eighteen  silent  years"  in  Nazareth.  The  law 
of  Jesus'  life  in  manhood  was  the  law  of  serv- 
ice. Read  again  Matt,  xx,  25—28.  I  think  we 
see  here  in  the  full  flower  what  the  members  of 
that  Nazareth  home-circle  saw  in  the  bud  during 
those  years  of  toil  and  service  when  Jesus  was 
working  at  his  trade  and  supporting  by  his 
labors  his  widowed  mother  and  younger  brothers 
and  sisters.  Then,  again,  in  his  manhood  Jesus 
lived  a  life  of  prayer  (Luke  iii,  21 ;  Mark  i,  35; 
Luke  v,  16;  vi,  12).     He  won  all  his  victories 


80         KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

by  prayer.  Do  not  we  find  in  all  this  the  sure 
and  natural  fulfillment  of  what  Jesus  was  dur- 
ing those  eighteen  long  years  in  Nazareth? 

I  find,  therefore,  that  the  message  of  those 
years,  when  'tis  said,  "Jesus  advanced  in  wisdom 
and  stature,  and  in  favor  with  God  and  men," 
brings  to  the  young  life  of  our  time  these  three 
lessons:  First,  that  menial  labor  is  in  itself 
honorable,  respectable,  and  dignified.  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  was  a  workingman.  Second,  that  the 
way  to  true  greatness  is  by  helpful  service. 
Jesus  was  truly  great;  he  served  others.  This 
he  did  as  a  young  man,  giving  ready  and  will- 
ing service  for  the  support  of  his  own  kindred, 
and  no  doubt  by  unnumbered  gracious  ministra- 
tions to  the  needy  ones  about  him.  Third,  as  a 
young  man  Jesus  must  have  often  been  in 
prayer  and  meditation,  else  his  mature  life  of 
prayer  is  something  more  than  fulfillment  of  his 
early  years. 

Finally,  never  think  less  of  one  because  he 
works;  Jesus'  own  example  has  stamped  all 
honest  work  as  clean  and  honorable.  Never  de- 
spise true  service.  Jesus  taught  by  precept  and 
example  that  only  one  who  truly  serves  is  truly 
great.  And  let  no  one  forget  the  importance, 
for  one's  own  life,  of  prayer  and  religious 
thoughtfulness.  "More  things  are  wrought  by 
prayer  than  this  world  dreams  of." 


A  GROUP  OF  STUDIES  81 

THE    WILDEENESS    TEMPTATIONS; A    KEY    TO    THE 

INTEEPEETATION    OF    THE    LIFE    OF    JESUS. 

Temptation  comes  to  all.  To  be  tempted  Is 
not  sin.  To  yield  to  temptation  is  sin.  The 
gospel  writers  say  that  Jesus  was  tempted,  yet 
without  sin.  There  are  those  who  find  it  diffi- 
cult to  think  of  Jesus  as  being  tempted.  Would 
the  fact  that  Jesus  was  a  holy  being  have  any 
bearing  upon  the  question  of  his  being  tempted? 
No  and  yes.  No, — since  the  possibility  of  be- 
ing tempted  depends  not  upon  the  fact  of  one's 
being  holy  or  unholy,  but  rather  upon  the  fact 
of  an  individual's  having  appetites  and  desires, 
and  avenues  of  pleasure  and  of  pain ;  yes, — since 
the  holier  one  is,  the  more  one  can  appreciate 
the  desirability  of  the  good  thing  which,  it  is 
suggested  and  promised  by  the  tempter,  may  be, 
by  the  unholy  means  suggested,  secured,  and 
further,  yes, — since,  as  Wescott  well  observes, 
"sympathy  with  the  sinner  in  his  trial  does  not 
depend  on  the  experience  of  sin,  but  on  the  ex- 
perience of  the  strength  of  the  temptation  to 
sin,  which  only  the  sinless  can  know  in  its  full 
intensity.  He  who  falls,  yields  before  the  last 
strain."  Therefore,  it  is  written:  "For  we  have 
not  a  high  priest  that  cannot  be  touched  with 
the  feeling  of  our  infirmities ;  but  one  that  hath 
been  in  all  points  tempted  like  as  we  are,  yet 
without  sin." 

The  New  Testament  narratives  of  the  Wilder- 


82         KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

ness  Temptations  of  Jesus  are  found  in  Matt, 
iv,  1-11;  Mark  i,  12,  13;  and  Luke  iv,  1-13. 

A  number  of  questions  are  raised  by  a  study 
of  these  narratives  which  are  interesting  but 
not  of  the  greatest  importance  to  us.  In  our 
study  of  Jesus  under  temptation,  it  would  be  a 
mistake  to  give  these  minor  questions  undue  rela- 
tive consideration.  For  instance:  Did  Satan 
appear  to  Jesus  in  bodily  form?  Could  you 
and  I  have  seen  Satan  if  we  had  been  with  Jesus 
during  those  forty  days  of  religious  fasting.'' 
Did  Jesus  wholly  abstain  from  food  during 
those  forty  days?  From  whom  did  the  Gospel 
writers  get  their  information  about  the  tempta- 
tions of  Jesus  in  the  wilderness?  Did  Satan 
take  Jesus  in  his  physical  body  to  Jerusalem  and 
set  him  on  the  pinnacle  of  the  Temple,  or  to  a 
high  mountain?  These  questions  are  all  inter- 
esting and  I  can  well  conceive  how  their  con- 
sideration might,  under  some  circumstances,  be 
really  profitable. 

But  the  immediately  important  questions  for 
us  I  conceive  to  be  (1)  What  are  the  New 
Testament  narratives  of  the  temptations?  That 
is,  just  what  were  the  temptations  which  Jesus 
endured  in  the  wilderness  during  the  period  im- 
mediately following  his  baptism  by  John?  (2) 
Were  they  real  temptations?  (3)  What,  if 
any,  meaning  have  they  for  us? 

(1)  First,  what  were  the  temptations  of 
Jesus  ?     Just  what  took  place  ?     The  New  Testa- 


A  GROUP  OF  STUDIES  83 

ment  record  consists  of  the  narratives  of  what 
took  place  in  the  inner  consciousness  of  Jesus 
during  the  period  immediately  following  his 
baptism  by  John.  The  form  of  the  narratives, 
especially  of  Matthew  and  Luke,  is  manifestly 
symbolical  or  figurative.  But  no  words  could 
have  more  literally  set  forth  what  is  believed 
to  have  taken  place  in  the  inner  consciousness  of 
Jesus  during  those  days  of  testing  and  fast- 
ing. 

The  question  has  been  cited  as  an  interesting 
one:  From  whom  did  the  Gospel  writers  get 
their  information  concerning  the  temptations  of 
Jesus?  No  doubt,  Jesus  told  the  story  of  those 
days  to  his  disciples  many  times  before  his  death 
upon  the  Cross  on  Calvary.  The  New  Testa- 
ment narratives  apparently  sum  up  in  the  three 
temptations,  as  recorded,  the  general  substance 
and  forms  of  temptation  which  came  upon  Jesus 
during  the  forty  days  in  the  wilderness.  And  it 
will  be  seen  by  a  study  of  those  temptations  that 
they  comprehend  essentially  every  kind  of 
temptation  which  can  ever  come  to  a  human 
soul.  Following  Matthew's  order,  they  were  as 
follows : 

(1)  An  appeal  to  satisfy  personal,  physical 
need  in  a  manner  contrary  to  God's  will.  First, 
be  it  noted  that  Jesus  had  just  been  assured,  by  a 
wonderful  spiritual  experience  in  connection 
with  and  following  his  baptism,  of  the  Father's 
approval  of  him  as  the  Son,  and  Jesus  was  now 


84         KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

clearly  conscious  of  the  possession  of  extra- 
ordinary powers.  The  question  of  that  hour 
with  him  would  be  as  to  how  he  should  use  these 
powers  of  the  possession  of  which  he  had  now 
become  conscious.  Through  days  of  meditation, 
prayer  and  reflection,  tempting  and  trial,  Jesus 
was  to  reach  the  answer  to  that  question.  What 
that  answer  should  be  would  determine  the 
policy  and  method  of  all  his  life  work  in  the 
fulfillment  of  his  mission.  If  a  study  of  the 
Wilderness  temptations  shall  furnish  us  with  an 
answer  to  the  question  indicated,  we  shall  be 
furnished  at  the  same  time  with  a  key  to  the 
interpretation  of  the  life  of  Jesus. 

Secondly,  in  getting  at  the  character  of  the 
first  temptation  mentioned  by  Matthew,  we  see 
that  Jesus  was  not  here  tempted  to  do  anything 
in  itself  wrong.  The  method  of  attack  upon 
him  was  by  suggesting  that  he  was  possibly  mis- 
taken in  his  interpretation  of  his  own  religious 
experience.  "If  thou  art  the  Son  of  God,  com- 
mand that  these  stones  become  bread."  Here 
also  came  the  suggestion  to  make  a  wrong  use 
of  those  unique  powers,  of  which  Jesus  was  now 
the  conscious  possessor.  But  Jesus  would  not 
be  a  mere  wonder-worker.  He  here,  as  ever,  put 
first  things  first.  Seek  ye  first  not  bread,  but 
seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God,  and,  therefore, 
without  argument  about  his  own  divine  Sonship, 
Jesus  answered  by  using  the  words  of  Deuter- 
onomy viii,  3 :  "Man  shall  not  live  by  bread  alone, 


A  GROUP  OF  STUDIES  85 

but  by  every  word  that  proceedeth  out  of  the 
mouth  of  God." 

(2)  The  second  temptation  took  the  form  of 
an  appeal  to  go  about  his  great  work  of  win- 
ning the  multitude  by  means  of  sensationalism. 
But  Jesus  would  not  even  win  the  attention  of 
the  multitude,  important  to  the  prosecution  of 
his  work  as  that  was,  by  the  use  of  any  other 
methods  than  those  which  might  be  used  by  any 
human  being.  He  would  win  all  his  victories 
under  human  conditions  and  in  spite  of  human 
limitations.  So  only  could  his  work  and  life  be 
that  of  a  faithful  High  Priest  and  helper  for  us. 
In  his  refusal  to  adopt  the  methods  of  sensa- 
tionalism may  be  found  a  lesson  for  us  when 
we  are  tempted  to  make  trial  of  God  for  sensa- 
tional purposes  to-day. 

(3)  The  third  temptation  (Matthew  iv,  8f.) 
was  one  to  dip  the  colors  in  order  to  win  the 
world.  This  temptation  was  perhaps  the  most 
perilous  of  all.  Jesus  sought  to  benefit  all  the 
world.  To  this  end  the  world  must  be  reached 
and  won.  Therefore,  came  the  Satanic  sugges- 
tion, "the  end  justifies  the  means."  This  was  the 
third  and  last  temptation,  and  by  this,  Jesus  rec- 
ognized the  face  of  Satan,  who  is  "a  liar,  and  the 
father  thereof"  (John  viii,  44).  "Then  saith 
Jesus  unto  him.  Get  thee  hence  Satan :  for  it  is 
written,  thou  shalt  worship  the  Lord  thy  God, 
and  him  only  shalt  thou  serve."  So  was  Jesus 
tempted  like  as  we  are  tempted,  yet  without  sin. 


86         KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

Were  the  temptations  of  Jesus  real  tempta- 
tions? We  do  not  doubt  it.  To  have  faked 
such  an  experience  would  have  been  unworthy 
of  anyone,  and  much  more  of  Jesus.  Could 
Jesus  have  yielded  to  the  temptations?  If  he 
could  not  then  he  was  not  tempted.  Did  he 
triumph  as  Son  of  Man,  or  as  Son  of  God?  If 
he  was  not  tempted  as  we  are  tempted,  and  if 
he  did  not  triumph  as  we  may  triumph,  then  is 
the  record  no  help  to  us,  no  challenge  to  us  nor 
encouragement  for  us.  He  was  tempted  as  every 
man  is  tempted,  and  he  won  the  victory  as  every 
man  may  win.  The  stories  of  the  temptations  of 
Jesus  have  pregnant  meaning  for  us.  They 
challenge  us  to  trust  God's  way;  to  obey  God 
and  not  to  presume  upon  Him;  to  worship  God 
and  serve  Him  only.  They  greatly  encourage 
us,  since  the  victories  which  he  won  were  won 
under  the  same  limitations  and  conditions  which 
obtain  with  us,  and  therefore,  as  he  has  won  so 
also  by   like   means   may   we. 

THE    MIRACLES    OF    JESUS. 

There  was  a  time  when  people  believed  in  the 
divinity  of  Jesus  because  of  the  miracles  which 
he  worked.  They  believed  in  Christ  because  of 
what  they  knew  of  the  miracles. 

To-day  we  would  probably  more  truly  say 
that  men  believe  in  miracles  because  of  what  they 
know  of  Christ. 

As   one  who  believes   that   Jesus   worked  the 


A  GROUP  OF  STUDIES  87 

miracles  recorded  in  The  Gospels  I  am  convinced, 
with  Professor  Sanday,  that  in  so  doing  he  made 
this  sympathetic  adaptation  of  the  methods  of 
his  teaching  to  the  ideas  and  expectations  of  the 
people  of  his  own  time. 

We  have  already  seen  how — Jesus  being  con- 
scious of  the  possession  of  extraordinary  powers 
— the  temptation  in  the  wilderness  grew  out  of 
the  question  how  those  powers  should  be  used. 

A  study  of  Jesus'  experience  under  tempta- 
tion affords  a  key  to  many  hard  problems  in 
the  interpretation  of  the  life  and  work  of  Jesus. 
Professor  Sanday  observes  (Article,  "Jesus 
Christ,"  Hastings'  Bib.  Diet.,  Vol.  II,  6^6): 
"The  public  ministry  of  Jesus  wears  the  aspect 
it  does,  not  because  of  limitations  imposed 
from  without,  but  of  limitations  imposed  from 
within." 

The  people  sought  for  signs  and  wonders  and 
miracles.  And  they  thought  of  these  as  the 
normal  and  natural  way  for  God  to  make  special 
manifestation  of  Himself  and  His  power.  Jesus 
wished  the  people  to  see  God  in  all  holy  ministra- 
tions and  to  know  Him  in  all  his  works.  And 
therefore,  he  never  gave  free  course  to  his  powers 
to  work  miracles  according  to  the  current  ideas 
and  expectations   of  the  people. 

He  did,  with  certain  carefully  self-imposed 
limitations,  consent  to  do  some  miracles,  but  ever 
with  strict  reference  to  the  purpose  of  his  mis- 
sion, and  always  in  perfect  accord  with  the  prin- 


88         KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

ciples  which  he  adopted  during  the  temptation 
in  the  wilderness  for  the  guidance  of  his  life. 

Sanday  further  observes :  "He  steadily  refused 
to  work  miracles  for  any  purely  self-regarding 
end.  If  the  fact  that  he  works  miracles  at  all 
is  a  sympathetic  adaptation  to  the  beliefs  and 
expectations  of  the  time,  those  beliefs  are 
schooled  and  criticized  while  they  are  adopted 
(Matt,  xii,  39;  xvi,  If.  and  John  iv,  48),  the  ele- 
ment of  mere  display,  the  element  of  self-asser- 
tion, even  of  self-preservation,  is  eliminated  from 
them.  They  are  studiously  restricted  to  the  pur- 
poses of  the  mission." 

And  Professor  Sanday  has  further  pointed 
out  that  the  miracles  of  Jesus  are  restricted  in 
three  ways.  They  are  restricted  (1)  in  their 
subject-matter,  (2)  in  the  conditions  under 
which  they  are  wrought  and  (3)  in  the  manner 
of  their  publication.  And  this  shows  how  and 
in  what  sense  the  miracles  could  be  described  by 
Jesus  as  **The  works  which  none  other  did." 
They  were  wholly  unique  as  thus  restricted. 

But  it  was  by  these  miracles  which  he  did,  as 
thus  restricted,  that  Jesus  at  once  corrected  the 
current  idea  of  miracles  as  mere  crude  signs  and 
wonders,  and  also  by  these  miracles  did  Jesus 
correct  the  current  idea  and  expectation  of  a 
Messiah  who  was  to  gather  around  himself  great 
crowds  and  establish  an  outward  and  temporal 
kingdom. 

By  these  miracles  Jesus  not  only  corrected 


A  GROUP  OF  STUDIES  89 

the  current  expectations  of  Messianic  signs  and 
wonders,  and  the  current  expectations  of  the 
Messiah  and  the  Messiah's  kingdom,  but  further 
did  he  arrest  and  grip  and  hold  the  attention  of 
a  wonder-seeking  age,  upon  himself  and  God 
the  Father  until  they  who  heard  his  words  and 
saw  his  works  were  judged  thereby,  according  as 
they  saw  and  loved,  or  saw  and  hated  both  Jesus 
and  the  Father.  So  could  Jesus  say — "If  I  had 
not  done  among  them  the  works  which  none  other 
did,  they  had  not  had  sin :  but  now  have  they 
both  seen  and  hated  both  me  and  my  Father." 

We  have  thus  seen  (1)  How  the  experience 
of  Jesus  in  the  wilderness  affords  us  a  key  to 
the  paradoxical  character  of  Christ's  wonderful 
works  known  as  miracles.  We  have  seen  also 
(2)  What  instruments  for  teaching  these 
miracles  in  Christ's  hands  became.  And  we 
might  go  on  to  see  (3)  That,  without  some  such 
wonderful  works  by  which  they  of  a  wonder-ex- 
pecting age  might  recognize  the  grace  and  per- 
sonality of  God  come  to  men,  there  would  be  no 
way  by  which  we  could  explain  the  faith  and 
life  and  vitality  of  the  early  church. 

Thus  far  I  have  spoken  of  the  miracles  of 
Jesus  as  taking  for  granted  (1)  The  objective 
possibility  of  miracles  and  (2)  The  inherent 
credibility  of  miracles. 

It  might  be  well  to  consider  in  a  few  words 
the  possibility  and  the  credibility  of  miracles. 
Many  have  denied  the  possibility  of  miracles. 


90         KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

Now  it  may  be  argued  that  in  any  systematic 
and  thorough-going  materialism  there  is  no 
place  for  miracles.  But  it  may  also  be  said  that 
to  systematic  and  thorough-going  materialism 
all  action  of  mental  and  spiritual  forces  is  im- 
possible. 

If  anyone  believes  that  the  operations  of 
spiritual  forces  are  as  real  and  familiar  as  are 
material  forces,  then  may  that  one  find  easy  il- 
lustration of  the  way  in  which  the  spiritual  order 
may  intrude  itself  into  the  physical  order.  For 
example,  we  may  point  to  the  action  of  the  human 
will,  of  which  the  phenomenal  effect  may  be 
the  motion  of  one's  own  body,  or  as  when  one 
wills  to  lift  a  book  and  does  lift  it,  even  though 
according  to  the  law  of  gravitation  the  book 
would  not  rise  but  fall. 

When  we  let  spiritual  agents  into  our  concep- 
tion of  the  all-including  universe  (and  their  be- 
ing is  certainly  involved  in  the  action  of  our 
own  will  and  the  processes  of  our  own  thinking) 
then  is  the  way  open  for  us  to  conceive  God  as 
the  freest  and  highest  of  these. 

As  J.  H.  Bernhard  declares  ("Miracle," 
"Hastings'  Diet."  Ill,  380),  "Our  conception  of 
the  universe  is  partial  and  inadequate  unless  we 
realize  that  a  great  Spiritual  Being  is  the  ulti- 
mate source  of  all  the  manifold  activities  which  it 
daily  and  hourly  presents  to  our  view.  And  if, 
with  this  in  our  minds,  we  approach  an  anoma- 
lous phenomenon  which  seems  to  us  to  interrupt 


A  GROUP  OF  STUDIES  91 

the  continuity  of  physical  sequence,  we  shall  have 
to  enumerate  among  possible  explanations  this 
other,  that  it  is  due  to  the  direct  volition  of 
the  Deity.  If  we  are  satisfied  that  this  is  its 
explanation,  we  call  it  a  miracle." 

With  this  all-including  view  of  the  universe, 
physical  and  spiritual,  miracles  are  not  only  ob- 
jectively possible,  but,  upon  proper  evidence,  in- 
herently credible  also. 

And  miracles  as  thus  conceived  could  never 
become  a  disturbance  in  the  law  and  order  of 
the  all-including  universe. 

The  one  totally  incongruous  marvel  of  marvels, 
as  introducing  disturbance  in  the  law  and  order 
of  the  universe,  is  sin. 

THE    LOGIC    OF    THE    RESURRECTION. 

The  Christian  world  never  had  greater  reason 
than  now  to  believe  that  Jesus,  who  was  called 
Christ,  "suffered  under  Pontius  Pilate,  was 
crucified,  dead  and  buried ;  the  third  day  he  rose 
from  the  dead." 

Reason  justifies  such  a  faith.  If  Jesus  was 
in  other  respects  what  he  claimed  to  be,  or  what 
his  contemporaries  believed  him  to  be,  then  we 
would  naturally  expect  him  to  have  overcome  the 
world  and  conquer  death.  The  rational  world. 
Christian  and  non-Christian  and  heathen,  freely 
concedes  Jesus  to  have  been  the  noblest  man  of 
all  ages.  It  is  not  comprehended  how  ^eason, 
which  concedes  so  much  to  Jesus,  can  at  the  same 


92         KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

time  sweep  aside  his  most  unique  claims  and  pre- 
tensions for  himself.  No  man,  even  in  his  own 
thought,  convicteth  Jesus  of  sin,  and  yet  he  is 
recorded  by  the  gospel  writers  to  have  foretold 
his  own  death  and  resurrection — Matt,  xx, 
17-19;  Mark  x,  32-34;  Luke  xviii,  31-34; 
John,  "Farewell  Discourses." 

Distinguished  doubters  like  Lord  Bolinbroke, 
Professor  Huxley  and  John  Stuart  Mill,  all 
freely  concede  the  transcendent  beauty  and 
worth  of  the  Christian  Scriptures.  But  no  more 
vital  doctrine  is  set  forth  in  these  Scriptures  than 
that  of  the  resurrection. 

Reason,  which  freely  concedes  so  much  con- 
cerning Jesus  and  these  records  of  his  life  among 
men,  certainly  justifies  our  faith  in  this  great 
supporting  doctrine  of  the  whole,  the  doctrine  of 
the  resurrection. 

Lyman  Abbott  has  insisted  that  our  belief  in 
no  alleged  event  of  ancient  history  has  been  so 
buttressed  by  historic  evidence  as  has  the  resur- 
rection of  Jesus. 

Our  belief  in  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  is  forti- 
fied: by  the  separate  records  of  independent 
historians ;  by  the  recorded  testimony  of  eye  wit- 
nesses, embracing  large  numbers,  under  the  most 
varied  circumstances ;  by  the  acknowledged  fact 
that  a  company  of  despairing  disciples,  within 
a  few  days,  became  a  band  of  invincible,  con- 
quering heroes ;  by  the  fact  of  every  early 
Christian  institution;  by  every  early  Christian 


A  GROUP  OF  STUDIES  93 

writing,  those  by  Paul,  Peter,  John,  James,  Luke, 
Origen,  Justin  Martyr,  and  scores  of  others;  by 
the  moral  and  religious  revolution  that  followed 
the  preaching  everywhere  of  the  alleged  resur- 
rection. It  is  too  much  even  for  credulity  to 
believe  what  those  who  doubt  the  resurrection 
would  have  us  believe.  We  can  not  believe  that 
the  greatest  good  which  ever  came  to  this  old 
earth,  came  through  the  preaching  of  a  lie. 
The  logic  of  the  resurrection  is  well  expressed 
by  the  belief  of  the  Christian  world  that  Jesus 
"suffered  under  Pontius  Pilate;  was  crucified, 
dead  and  buried;  the  third  day  he  rose  from  the 
dead."  Historic  evidence  and  the  very  soul  of 
reason  shut  us  up  to  such  a  conclusion. 

In  the  light  of  modem  science,  psychology, 
and  philosophy  we  can  begin  to  see  that  the 
resurrection  of  Jesus  was  inevitable.  If  it  were 
not  so,  then  would  crass  materialism  have  the 
final  word  in  the  explanation  of  the  universe  and 
the  Creator  would  finally  be  overcome  by  the 
creature  matter.  If  Jesus  was  what  you  and 
I  and  the  human  mind  universal  believe  him  to 
have  been,  then  he  must  not  have  been  held  by 
death.  "The  last  enemy  that  shall  be  abolished 
is  death."  But  death  can  be  an  enemy  only  as 
it  can  cut  short  the  progress  of  life.  The  in- 
spired instincts  of  the  race  have  grasped  this 
truth.  Witness  the  unsystematized  hopes  of  all 
peoples.  Witness  also  the  Scriptures  of  Israel. 
Witness  also  the  systematized  hopes   and  faith 


94  KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

of  the  modern  mind.  The  wonder  of  wonders 
past  all  human  comprehension  would  have  been 
for  Jesus  not  to  have  been  raised  from  the  hold 
and  power  of  death.  Being  what  he  was  he  must 
have  risen  from  the  dead.  The  logic  of  the 
resurrection  is  well  expressed  by  the  Apostle  as 
follows :  "Now  hath  Christ  been  raised  from  the 
dead,  the  first  fruits  of  them  that  are  asleep." 
In  the  letter  to  the  Corinthians,  from  which 
the  above  words  are  taken,  is  the  oldest  writ- 
ten record  of  the  resurrection  that  has  come 
down  to  us.  It  has  probably  occurred  to  many 
of  you  that  the  authors  of  the  New  Testament 
nowhere  furnish  us  any  labored  argument  to 
prove  the  resurrection,  but  they  refer  to  it  al- 
ways as  a  fact  fully  believed  in  the  church,  and 
therefore,  they  give  us  such  evidence  as  they  do 
only  incidentally  and  as  narrative.  In  1  Corin- 
thians XV,  the  Apostle  more  nearly  approaches 
an  argument  to  prove  the  resurrection  than  do 
any  of  the  other  New  Testament  writers,  yet 
even  there  his  argument  has  to  do  with  that 
which  is  confessedly  the  clearest  ground  of  the 
Christian  hope.  Paul  himself  accepted  the  fact 
of  the  resurrection  upon  the  testimony  of  his 
own  consciousness  of  having  seen  the  risen  Lord, 
as  also  upon  the  testimony  of  Peter  and  possibly 
other  of  the  apostles  with  whom  he  had  early  be- 
come acquainted  at  Jerusalem.  And  so  Paul 
wrote  to  the  Corinthians  "For  I  delivered  unto 
you  first  of  all  that  which  also  I  received,  how 


A  GROUP  OF  STUDIES  95 

that  Christ  died  for  our  sins  according  to  the 
Scriptures ;  and  that  he  hath  been  raised  on  the 
third  day  according  to  the  scriptures ;  and  that 
he  appeared  to  Cephas ;  then  to  the  twelve ;  then 
he  appeared  to  above  five  hundred  brethren  at 
once,  of  whom  the  greater  part  remain  until  now, 
but  some  are  fallen  asleep ;  then  he  appeared  to 
James ;  then  to  all  the  apostles ;  and  last  of  all, 
as  unto  one  born  out  of  due  time,  he  appeared  to 
me  also"  (1  Cor.  xv,  3-8).  Paul  makes  his 
argument  not  to  prove  the  resurrection  of  Christ 
but  rather  to  emphasize  the  importance  of  the 
doctrine  as  the  very  basis  of  the  Christian  faith, 
and  to  show  its  relation  to  the  hope  of  im- 
mortality. Upon  the  undoubted  fact  of  Christ's 
resurrection  Paul  reared  the  structure  of  his 
argument  for  the  hope  of  the  general  resurrec- 
tion. There  was  among  the  Corinthians  a 
danger  of  unbelief  in  the  general  resurrection 
of  the  dead.  Paul  met  such  skepticism  by  the 
logic  set  forth  in  his  letter. 

The  manner  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ  is 
not  revealed  to  us.  The  resurrection  is  stated 
as  a  fact,  and  it  is  presented  as  the  surest 
ground  of  hope  that  we  too  shall  live  again. 
The  preaching  of  the  Apostles  was  full  of  the 
resurrection.  Their  Gospel  has  been  spoken  of 
as  the  Gospel  of  the  resurrection.  Their  own 
faith  had  revived  only  when  they  were  convinced 
beyond  any  doubting  that  Jesus  had  actually 
risen.     Everybody    in    Jerusalem    knew    of   the 


96         KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

crucifixion.  It  had  seemed  to  all  the  disciples 
and  friends  of  Jesus  as  if  their  highest  hopes 
had  been  thwarted  by  the  cross.  Of  course  the 
enemies  of  Jesus,  as  well  as  the  indifferent  ones, 
were  sure  that  now  the  end  had  come.  One  more 
fanatic  had  paid  the  penalty  of  his  folly  on  that 
hill  outside  the  city  walls.  Such  was  the  situa- 
tion when  upon  that  historic  day  Jesus  hanged 
upon  the  cross. 

The  Christian  world  has  believed  concerning 
Jesus  that  "the  third  day  he  rose  from  the 
dead."  May  we  at  the  beginning  of  the  twenti- 
eth century  find  any  natural  reason  why  he 
should  have  thus  risen? 

We  answer  that  Christ  rose  from  the  dead  and 
"ascended  into  heaven,"  because  it  was  necessary 
that  he,  who  was  for  a  time  incarnate  in  the 
flesh,  should  go  away,  that  is,  be  de-localized 
through  death  in  order  that  he  might  come  in 
the  Holy  Spirit  to  sustain  and  help  men  every- 
where without  reference  to  any  particular  loca- 
tion in  the  body.  But  not  only  so,  it  was  neces- 
sary that  the  disciples  should  be  convinced  be- 
yond any  doubt  that  their  Master,  Jesus,  was 
thus  alive  after  the  transition  which  men  call 
death,  else  they  could  never  again  exercise  re- 
ceiving faith  in  him.  Therefore,  did  Jesus 
vouchsafe  such  marvelous  appearings  and  disap- 
pearings  to  his  disciples  and  others  during  the 
days  after  the  resurrection.  When  they  were 
made  sure  beyond  all  doubting  that  Jesus  was 


A  GROUP  OF  STUDIES  97 

alive  after  having  died  upon  the  cross,  then  in- 
deed there  was  nothing  needed  for  him  to  do  but 
to  give  to  them  the  Great  Commission  to  go  and 
teach  others  the  same  Good  News  of  life  and  im- 
mortality which  they  had  learned,  and  then  "he 
ascended  into  heaven,  and  sitteth  at  the  right 
hand  of  God  the  Father  Almighty." 

We  have  not  chosen  in  this  place  to  marshal 
the  historical  evidence  of  the  resurrection,  though 
we  are  firmly  convinced  that  such  evidence,  direct 
and  indirect,  is  most  conclusive.  If  any  of  us 
have  any  doubt  as  to  the  reality  of  the  resurrec- 
tion of  Christ  we  may  well  ask  ourselves  to  con- 
sider what  would  have  been  the  outcome  if 
Jesus  had  not  been  raised  from  the  dead?  Upon 
this  question  I  will  give  to  you  the  words  of 
Doctor  Gross  Alexander  who  says  ("Son  of 
Man,"  363 ff.):  "The  followers  of  Jesus  were 
few  in  number,  they  were  without  prestige,  with- 
out influence,  without  learning;  in  short,  they 
were  peasants  and  women.  The  world  was  not 
friendly  to  them.  Jews  and  pagans  had  com- 
bined to  destroy  their  leader,  and  had  succeeded. 
The  forlorn  followers  of  that  leader  the  world 
did  not  even  pity.  It  despised  them.  They,  on 
their  part,  with  the  loss  of  their  leader  had  lost 
hope  and  courage,  and  they  cowered  before  the 
world  and  slunk  away  from  its  scorn  and  its 
hate. 

"If  Jesus  had  remained  among  the  dead,  his 
followers  would  have  bidden  an  eternal  farewell 


98  KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

to  their  Leader  and  Lord  and  to  all  their  hopes. 
They  would  have  accepted  the  verdict  of  fate 
and  of  their  enemies,  that  his  death  was  the  end- 
all.  They  would  have  had  no  Gospel  to  preach. 
The  Acts  of  the  Apostles  would  never  have  been 
enacted,  and  The  Gospels  would  never  have  been 
written.  Paul  would  never  have  been  converted, 
his  Gospel  would  never  have  been  preached,  his 
epistles  would  never  have  been  penned.  Chris- 
tianity could  never  have  been  established;  the 
renovation  of  humanity  would  never  have  taken 
place ;  and  the  kingdom  of  God  would  never  have 
been  known.  The  world  would  still  be  rotting 
with  the  corpse  of  Jesus." 

The  great  German  critic,  Keim,  expresses  es- 
sentially the  same  idea  in  the  following  words: 
"All  evidences  go  to  prove  that  the  belief  in  the 
Messiah  would  have  died  out  without  the  liv- 
ing Jesus ;  and  by  the  return  of  the  apostles  to 
the  synagogue  and  to  Judaism,  the  gold  of  the 
words  of  Jesus  would  have  been  buried  in  the 
dust  of  oblivion.  The  greatest  of  men  would 
have  passed  away  and  left  no  trace.  For  a 
time  Galilee  would  have  preserved  some  truth 
and  some  fiction  about  him;  but  his  cause  would 
have  produced  no  religious  exaltation  and  no 
Paul. 

"The  evidence  that  Jesus  was  alive  was  neces- 
sary, after  an  earthly  downfall  which  was  so  un- 
exampled. The  evidence  that  he  was  alive  was 
given,  by  his  own  impulsion  and  by  the  will  of 


A  GROUP  OF  STUDIES  99 

God.  The  Christianity  of  to-day  owes  to  this 
evidence,  first  its  Lord,  and  next  its  own  exist- 
ence. Thus,  though  much  has  fallen  away,  the 
secure  faith-fortress  of  the  resurrection  of  Jesus 
remains."  By  the  resurrection  then  was  given 
the  crowning  and  divine  sanction  to  all  of  Jesus' 
life  in  the  flesh;  his  unique  claims  for  himself 
were  here  shown  to  be  both  reasonable  and  sure. 

Again,  Jesus  rose  from  the  dead  in  order  to 
lead  captivity  captive,  to  free  humanity  from 
the  fear  of  death.  To  us  who  believe  that  Jesus 
rose  from  the  dead  (and  we  cannot  disbelieve  it) 
the  resurrection  is  the  sure  proof  of  immortality. 
Since  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  we  know  that 
death  does  not  end  all.  As  Keim  has  said: 
"The  hope  of  immortality  which  ran  through 
mankind  as  a  contradicted  sign,  has  become  a 
bright  light  and  clear  truth  through  him  alone ; 
spiritually,  through  his  word,  and  visibly 
through  his  act.  He  has  dissipated  anxious 
dread  by  showing  the  firm  ground  of  a  heavenly 
future  for  the  children  of  God." 

Finally,  what  to-day  for  us  is  the  logic  of  the 
resurrection.''  This  cannot  be  better  answered 
than  by  considering  what  would  be  the  situation 
with  us  to-day  if  someone  could  take  away  our 
belief  that  Jesus  did  rise  from  the  dead.  If  you 
would  take  away  our  faith  in  the  resurrection, 
you  would  take  our  New  Testament ;  the  Christ 
of  whom  we  learn  in  the  New  Testament;  the 
church    founded    upon    confessed    faith    in    the 


100       KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

Christ ;  the  Christian  Sunday  upon  which  we  had 
believed  that  He  had  risen ;  and  all  Christian  in- 
stitutions which  rest  upon  faith  in  a  risen  Christ. 
Take  away  this  day  our  faith  in  the  resurrec- 
tion and  you  impeach  human  nature  at  its  best; 
you  involve  the  origin  of  the  world's  best  civili- 
zation in  the  grossest  mystery,  and  you  make  an 
unanswerable  riddle  of  all  the  Christian  centuries. 
Even  as  Paul  reasons  "and  if  Christ  hath  not 
been  raised,  your  faith  is  vain ;  ye  are  yet  in  your 
sins.  Then  they  also  which  have  fallen  asleep  in 
Christ  have  perished.  If  in  this  life  only  we 
have  hoped  in  Christ,  we  are  of  all  men  most  piti- 
able." Psychology,  and  philosophy,  history, 
faith  and  cogent  reasoning,  combine  to  constitute 
the  logic  of  the  resurrection  still  invincible. 

ON    THE    COMING    OF    JESUS. 

The  last  Tuesday  before  the  crucifixion  was 
a  strangely  eventful  day  in  the  public  ministry 
of  Jesus.  It  was  clearly  discerned  by  Jesus, 
and  at  least  dimly  understood  by  the  disciples, 
that  hours  of  real  crisis  were  fast  approaching. 
When,  late  in  the  day,  Jesus  was  going  out  from 
the  temple  some  of  the  disciples  called  his  atten- 
tion to  the  great  stones  of  the  buildings,  and 
their  imposing  grandeur.  Jesus  replied  with  a 
prophecy  of  the  temple's  overthrow.  The  dis- 
ciples dimly  understood  that  in  some  deep  sense 
Jesus  would  be  present  in  the  fulfillment  of  this 
prophecy.     When    Jesus,    a   little   later   in    the 


A  GROUP  OF  STUDIES  101 

evening,  sat  on  the  Mount  of  Olives  with  his 
disciples,  they  questioned  him:  "Tell  us,  when 
shall  these  things  be?  and  what  shall  be  the  sign 
of  thy  coming  (Greek,  "presence"),  and  of  the 
end  of  the  world?"  And  Jesus  began  his  answer 
to  them  by  saying:  "Take  heed  that  no  man  lead 
you  astray."  And  in  the  twenty-fourth  chapter 
of  Matthew  we  have  vague  and  somewhat  dis- 
connected notes  upon  the  conversation  which 
followed. 

It  may  be  noted  that  the  expression  "second 
coming,"  as  used  in  contrast  to  the  first  coming 
of  Jesus,  is  not  found  in  the  Bible.  It  would 
be  helpful  to  clear  thinking  if  the  expression 
"second  coming"  could  be  dropped,  at  least 
when  any  attempt  is  being  made  to  interpret 
Biblical  teachings  upon  this  subject.  The  in- 
terpretation of  Biblical  teaching  concerning  the 
"coming"  or  comings  of  Jesus  is  difficult  at  best. 
The  twenty-fourth  chapter  of  Matthew  is  in  part 
as  obscure  as  anything  in  the  book  of  Revela- 
tion. 

The  comings  and  goings,  appearings  and  dis- 
appearings,  the  presence  and  revelation  of  Jesus 
were  all  with  essentially  one  purpose  or  aim. 
And  the  manner,  the  method,  was  that  in  every 
case  which  would  best  emphasize  the  reality  of 
the  unseen.  The  same  is  true  to-day.  The  pur- 
pose to  be  accomplished  was,  and  is,  primarily  to 
make  men  everywhere  aware  of  God,  and  of  the 
real  world  of  the  unseen. 


102       KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

Incidentally  Jesus  comes — that  is,  appears,  or 
makes  himself  manifest — in  judgment,  in  great 
crises,  in  the  clouds  of  heaven,  in  a  truer  appre- 
ciation of  the  glory  of  the  sun,  moon  and  stars. 
Wars  have  heralded  his  coming.  Earthquakes 
have  won  attention,  and  famines  have  made  men 
to  love  his  appearing.  The  "abomination  of 
desolation"  standing  where  he  ought  not,  has  been 
the  sign  and  prophecy  of  Jesus'  sure  presence 
in  judgment,  destruction,  restoration,  power,  and 
final  glory.  "Let  him  that  readeth  understand." 
Jesus  came.  Jesus  is  coming.  Jesus  shall  come. 
Blessed  are  the  eyes  of  some  who  will  read  these 
words,  for  you  have  loved  his  appearing,  and 
your  eyes  have  seen  the  glory  of  the  coming  of 
the  Lord! 

Jesus  often  spoke  upon  this  subject.  He 
taught  of  his  coming  in  historical  crises,  in  the 
presence  and  person  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  in 
spiritual  fellowship,  in  the  hour  of  death,  and  in 
judgment  at  the  end  of  the  world,  and  to  receive 
his  own  into  everlasting  glory  in  the  kingdom  of 
God. 

It  is  not  strange  that  the  early  struggling, 
persecuted  Christians  should  have  eagerly  looked 
for  the  immediate  return  in  bodily  form  of  Jesus, 
to  avenge  them  of  their  foes,  and  to  visibly  reign 
upon  the  earth.  But  the  most  real  coming  of 
Jesus  is  not  now,  nor  has  it  ever  been,  a  bodily 
coming.     The  fact  of  real  and  abiding  import- 


A  GROUP  OF  STUDIES  103 

ance  has  always  been  the  spiritual  fact,  the  com- 
ing of  the  invisible  God  into  the  conscious  life 
of  men.  Of  this  coming  no  man,  nor  even  the 
Son  of  Man,  can  foretell  the  times  or  the  seasons, 
for  this  real  coming  of  Jesus  is  always  condi- 
tioned upon  the  attitude  of  human  souls.  Jesus 
always  comes  "in  the  fullness  of  time."  And  he 
always  comes  as  a  "savor  of  life  unto  life"  to 
those  individuals  who  are  ready,  but  "of  death 
unto  death"  for  those  who  have  not  believed  he 
would  come  at  all,  and  who,  therefore,  are  not 
ready. 

One  immediate  purpose  of  Jesus'  teaching  was 
always  to  get  men's  hopes  and  expectations  away 
from  the  idea  of  a  merely  physical  coming  to 
something  which  is  more  real,  and  which  can  be 
more  universal.  He  would  have  men  every- 
where look  for  the  coming  into  their  lives  of  a 
presence  which  can  "abide"  with  them  when  sun, 
moon  and  stars  have  rolled  into  the  ruins  of  a 
forgotten  past.  This  presence  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  can,  and  will,  come  only  to  those  who 
"watch"  and  wait.  "Heaven  and  Earth  shall 
pass  away,  but  my  words  shall  not  pass  away. 
But  of  that  day  and  hour  knoweth  no  one,  not 
even  the  angels  of  heaven,  neither  the  Son,  but 
the  Father  only.  .  .  .  Therefore,  be  ye 
also  ready;  for  in  an  hour  that  ye  think  not, 
the  Son   of  Man   cometh." 


104       KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

THOUGHTS    ON    THE    ASCENSION. 

Matthew  and  John  have  left  no  narrative  of 
the  ascension  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  Mark  refers 
to  it,  but  only  in  the  appendix  (xvi,  19)  to  his 
Gospel.  Luke  closes  his  Gospel  history  with  the 
story  of  the  ascension.  Wescott  and  Hort  say: 
"The  ascension  apparently  did  not  lie  within  the 
proper  scope  of  The  Gospels,  as  seen  in  their 
genuine  texts ;  its  true  place  was  at  the  head  of 
The  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  as  the  preparation  for 
the  day  of  Pentecost,  and  thus  the  beginning  of 
the  history  of  the  church."  The  author  of  The 
Acts  says  of  the  last  meeting  of  the  disciples  and 
Jesus:  "As  they  were  looking,  he  was  taken 
up ;  and  a  cloud  received  him  out  of  their  sight." 
Basing  its  belief  upon  these  Scripture  records, 
the  Christian  world  has  confidently  affirmed  con- 
cerning Jesus  Christ  that  "He  ascended  into 
heaven." 

It  is  because  I  believe  that  too  much  insistence 
can  not  be  placed  upon  the  importance  of  be- 
coming familiar  with  the  real  meaning  of  the 
ascension  that  I  offer  the  following  suggestions 
concerning  the  doctrine  that  "He  ascended  into 
heaven." 

And,  first  of  all,  it  should  be  noted  that  the 
really  important  questions  pertaining  to  the 
ascension  of  Jesus  do  not  have  anything  to  do 
with  the  manner  or  form  of  that  event.  The 
manner  or  form  of  Jesus'  going  away  was  as 


A  GROUP  OF  STUDIES  105 

mysterious,  undoubtedly,  as  was  the  manner  or 
form  of  his  coming.  But  neither  did  his  coming 
nor  going  involve  any  more  of  real  and  unex- 
plained mystery  than  do  the  coming  and  going 
of  every  human  life.  When  Jesus  "ascended 
into  heaven,"  what  was  it  that  really  took  place? 
This  much  seems  assured:  If  that  which  took 
place  in  the  ascension  had  not  taken  place,  then 
the  events  of  Pentecost  could  not  have  occurred. 

In  our  effort  to  understand  the  story,  we  must 
not  dwell  too  much  on  the  form  of  words  or 
imagery,  but  rather  must  we  seek  the  ideas  which 
are  half-veiled  and  half-revealed  by  the  words  of 
time  and  space  in  which  the  ideas  are  set  forth. 

"And  the  Word  became  flesh,  and  dwelt  among 
us ;"  that  is,  the  all-comprehending  expression, 
or  Word,  became  localized,  for  the  sake  of  a 
tremendous  emphasis,  in  one  man,  Christ  Jesus, 
that  in  him  God  might  be  so  declared  unto  men 
that  as  men  should  receive  him  they  would 
thereby  "receive  power"  to  be  true  and  loyal 
children  of  God.  And  all  this  was  certainly 
"expedient"  for  all  men.  But  when  Jesus  had, 
with  concentrated  local  emphasis,  declared  the 
true  and  universal  love  and  fatherhood  of  God, 
and  the  consequent  brotherhood  of  man,  and  had 
demonstrated,  in  his  own  person,  how  the  king- 
dom of  God  can,  and  may  come,  through  the 
doing  of  God's  will,  under  human  conditions, 
then  did  he  declare  to  his  disciples :  "It  is  ex- 
pedient for  you  that  I  go  away :     for  if  I  go  not 


106       KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

away,  the  Comforter  will  not  come  unto  you." 
Then  did  it  come  to  pass  that  this  which  had 
been  actually  realized  in  an  individual  and  local 
way,  by  the  incarnation,  should  be  possible  of 
realization  in  a  world-wide  way,  and  for  all  time, 
by  the  ascension.  And  this  de-localization  again 
of  the  Eternal  Word  of  God  by  the  ascension 
was  as  expedient  for  mankind,  considering  man's 
ever  manifest  and  evolving  needs,  as  was  the 
localization  of  the  Eternal  Word  by  the  incarna- 
tion. So,  and  so  only,  could  be  realized  the  uni- 
versal coming  of  the  "Spirit  of  Truth,"  because 
so  only  could  the  human  mind  be  so  freed  from 
the  contracting  bondage  of  a  merely  local  and 
fleshly  worship,  that  it  might  be  able  to  receive 
and  be  led  by  the  Spirit  of  Truth  when  he  should 
come.  Thus  alone  could  the  glory  of  the  Eter- 
nal Word,  in  whom  is  "the  life"  which  "is  the 
light  of  men,"  be  progressively  realized,  until  in 
all  the  life  and  activities  of  men,  it  should  be 
beheld  in  holy  rapture,  "as  of  the  only  begotten 
of  the  Father,  full  of  grace  and  truth."  Such, 
then,  for  all  mankind,  was  the  expediency  of 
Jesus'  ascension. 

And  so  it  came  to  pass  that  "he  ascended  into 
heaven,  and  sitteth  at  the  right  hand  of  God  the 
Father  Almighty."  But  where  is  "the  right 
hand  of  God".''  It  is  in  that  timeless  and  space- 
less and  measureless  world  of  the  unseen  whence 
Jesus  came  at  the  time  of  his  incarnation. 

But   much   of   our  confusion,   when   we   have 


A  GROUP  OF  STUDIES  107 

thought  of  the  ascension,  has  come  from  the 
chief  place  in  our  thought  having  been  given 
to  "clouds,"  and  time  and  space  relations.  The 
late  Bishop  Wescott  says :  "This  danger  besets 
us  in  its  gravest  shape  when  we  endeavor  to  give 
distinctness  to  the  unseen  world.  We  transfer, 
and  we  must  transfer,  the  language  of  earth,  the 
imagery  of  succession  in  time  and  space,  to  an 
order  of  beings  to  which,  as  far  as  we  know,  it  is 
wholly  inapplicable.  We  can  not  properly  em- 
ploy such  terms  as  'before'  and  'after,'  'here' 
and  'there,'  of  God  or  of  spirit.  .  .  .  While, 
then,  we  are  constrained  to  use  words  of  time 
and  space,  and  to  speak  of  going  up  and  coming 
down,  of  present  and  future,  in  regard  to  the 
spirit-world  and  Christ's  glorified  life,  we  must 
remember  that  such  language  belongs  to  our 
imperfect  conceptions  as  we  now  are,  and  not  to 
realities  themselves.  If  once  we  can  feel  that  the 
imagery  in  which  the  glories  of  the  world  to 
come  are  described  is  only  imagery,  we  can  dwell 
upon  it  with  ever-increasing  intelligence  and 
without  distraction." 

Let  us  then  not  think  of  the  ascension  of  Jesus 
with  so  much  emphasis  upon  the  change  of  posi- 
tion, or  the  direction,  or  the  manner  of  his  going, 
as  upon  the  change  of  the  mode  of  his  presence, 
Jesus  ceased  to  be  present  with  his  disciples  un- 
der one  mode  of  appearing,  which  was  limited  by 
the  conditions  of  time  and  space,  in  order  that 
he  might  be  manifestly  present  with  them,  and 


108       KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

with  all  others,  under  another  mode  of  appearing 
which  would  not  be  limited  by  any  conditions  of 
time  and  space. 

If  the  kingdom  of  God  in  Christ  was  to  be 
builded  upon  earth,  it  was  necessary  that  the 
disciples  should  be  fully  convinced  that  the  real 
and  living  Christ  was  not  limited  to  the  con- 
ditions of  time  and  space,  since  only  thus  can 
he  be  present  with  different  persons,  at  different 
places,  at  the  same  time. 

It  was  to  teach  these  all-important  lessons 
that  the  disciples  were  permitted  to  see  those 
remarkable  appearings,  and  no  less  remarkable 
disappearings,  during  those  forty  days  following 
the  resurrection.  "These  lessons,"  says  Bishop 
Wescott,  "were  not  finished  by  the  resurrection. 
The  appearances  of  Jesus  during  the  great  forty 
days,  however  mysterious,  still  set  him  in  connec- 
tion with  particular  places  and  times.  It  was 
therefore  'expedient'  that  he  should  'go  away' 
in  order  that  his  disciples  might  feel  him  near 
them  always  and  everywhere."  And  that  is  what 
we  acknowledge  to  have  taken  place  when  we 
say,  "he  ascended  Into  heaven." 


VIII 

OF  THE  INCREASE  OF  CHRIST'S 
KINGDOM 

A    CHRISTMAS    MEDITATION. 

For  the  solving  of  most  human  problems,  it 
is  not  more  sight  that  is  needed,  but  more  in- 
sight. Not  by  statistics  and  tables  are  most 
important  questions  answered.  The  kingdom 
Cometh  not  with  observation.  The  true  signs  of 
the  times  are  for  those  only  who  have  insight. 
It  is  so  with  the  problem  of  the  progress  of 
Christ's  kingdom  in  the  earth.  It  was  not  by 
sight,  but  by  insight,  that  the  ancient  prophet 
was  able  to  say:  "And  the  government  shall  be 
upon  his  shoulder:  .  .  .  and  of  peace  there 
shall  be  no  end"  (Isaiah  ix,  6,  7). 

Mere  signs  and  symbols,  tables  and  observa- 
tion, are  not  to  be  despised.  These  have  their 
use.  But  the  greatest  signs  can  only  be  dis- 
cerned by  those  who  have  somehow  come  into 
vital  touch  with  God,  and  who  are  thus  responsive 
to  the  things  of  God.  To  those  who  can  rightly 
discern  and  interpret  the  signs  of  the  times  to- 
day it  will  appear  that  Isaiah's  prophecy  is  now 
coming  into  fulfillment  with  unparalleled  rapid- 
ity. 

But  as  a  most  important  preliminary  to  any 
serious  meditation  upon  the  progress  of  Christ's 
109 


110       KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

kingdom,  careful  note  should  be  taken  of  the 
significant  conviction  that  "the  government  shall 
be  upon  his  shoulder,"  which  the  course  of  recent 
philosophical  thought  has  forced  upon  the  mind 
of  this  generation. 

The  course  of  our  meditation  may  run  some- 
what as  follows :  All  that  the  human  mind  can 
rationally  conceive  may  be  included  in  the  three 
ideas — humanity,  the  world,  and  God.  Without 
God  no  rationally  assignable  origin  or  cause  of 
humanity  or  the  world  is  possible.  Without 
God  no  rational  relation  between  humanity  and 
the  world  can  be  affirmed  or  imagined.  But  with 
God,  free,  intelligent,  purposive,  in  the  continu- 
ous outgoing  of  whose  will  and  purpose  both 
humanity  and  the  world  have  all  their  being,  we 
may  have  some  rational  understanding  of  the 
origin  of  both,  and  of  the  relation  which,  for 
reason  and  knowledge  exists  between  them. 

If  knowledge  for  us  is  to  be  possible  at  all, 
and  if  our  thinking  may  ever  be  regarded  as 
leading  to  true  conclusions,  it  can  only  be  be- 
cause at  the  center  of  things  is  free  intelligence, 
purpose  and  will,  as  the  expression  of  whose  will 
humanity  and  the  world  exist. 

If  we  reason  thus  correctly,  then  God  works 
for  ends.  And  we  can  not  think  of  God  as 
setting  before  Himself  as  ultimate  end,  in  crea- 
tion, anything  less  than  a  perfected  humanity 
and  a  perfected  world.  The  more  we  learn  of 
the  world  the  surer  do  we  become  that  no  will 


INCREASE  OF  CHRIST'S  KINGDOM     111 

contrary  to  God's  will  has  had  any  determinative 
part  in  its  making.  But  in  the  perfecting  of 
humanity  God's  will  has  been  hindered  at  many 
turns  by  man's  own  will.  The  universal  possi- 
bility of  such  interference  is  involved  in  the  fun- 
damental nature  of  free  humanity.  But  here 
also,  for  the  individual,  and  also  for  the  race, 
the  wages  of  sin,  that  is,  of  interference  with 
God's  will,  is  death,  while  the  gift  of  God  to  all 
who  do  His  will  is  eternal  life.  Wherefore,  since 
God  is  God,  in  final  humanity,  the  humanity 
which  shall  finally  survive,  the  will  of  God  shall 
be  fully  realized.  And  since  according  to  the 
highest  rational  intuitions  of  the  race,  Jesus  is 
God  manifest,  it  follows  as  sure  inference  that 
"the  government  shall  be  upon  his  shoulder." 

The  foregoing  conclusion  of  modern  philosoph- 
ical speculation  may  be  followed  by  a  survey  of 
our  modern  sky  for  any  signs  of  the  fulfillment 
of  Isaiah's  prophecy.  If  Jesus  was  God  in- 
carnate, that  is,  manifest  in  one  man,  he  was 
also  the  prophecy  of  the  coming  of  a  divinely 
filled  humanity.  The  progress  of  Christ's  king- 
dom is  the  progress  of  God's  incarnation  among 
men.  Jesus  came  for  this  end  to  bring  life. 
The  true  increase  of  his  kingdom  has  been  the 
increase  of  true  life  among  men.  And  it  is  not 
without  its  lesson  that  the  estimate  which  society 
places  upon  human  life  has  greatly  advanced  in 
a  century.  George  A.  Gordon  declares,  "slowly 
and   in   spite   of   all   opposing   forces   life   itself 


112       KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

has  been  winning  the  chief  place  in  thought. 
For  the  first  time  in  history,  in  the  nineteenth 
century,  the  people  have  made  their  appear- 
ance. .  .  .  The  chief  concern  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  is  a  concern  for  man"  ("New 
Epoch  for  Faith,"  28). 

When  the  ideals  of  Christ  shall  dominate  the 
lives  of  men  and  rule  in  human  society,  then 
shall  it  be  realized  that  the  government  of  hu- 
manity "shall  be  upon  his  shoulder."  And  un- 
til that  day  shall  fully  come,  in  such  degree  as 
Christ's  ideals  are  recognized  and  enthroned  in 
human  society  and  government,  shall  it  be  true 
that  "of  the  increase  of  his  government  and  of 
peace  there  shall  be  no  end." 

Again,  the  nineteenth  century  witnessed  a 
much  higher  estimate  placed  upon  the  individual 
human  life  than  the  ages  before  had  seen.  The 
rise  of  true  democracy  is  modern  and  Christian. 
The  democratic  idea  is  only  Christ's  idea  of  the 
value  of  a  single  soul,  but  it  has  given  birth  to 
every  republic  upon  earth,  and  has  already 
greatly  modified  all  other  governments. 

Further,  all  other  standards  of  government 
are  now  tested  by  Christ.  The  distinguished 
Chinaman,  Minister  Wu,  while  he  was  the  rep- 
resentative of  China  in  the  United  States,  made 
several  notable  speeches  upon  Confucianism, 
and  he  recognized  by  various  comparisons  that 
no  higher  defense  of  Confucianism  was  possible 
than  to  be  able  to  say  of  it,  that  it  was  as  good 


INCREASE  OF  CHRIST'S  KINGDOM     113 

as  the  teaching  of  Christ.  All  standards  are  to- 
day tested  by  the  Christian  standard.  The 
world  recognizes  no  higher  code. 

"O  Lord  and  Master  of  us  all ! 
Whate'er  our  name  or  sign, 
We  own  Thy  sway,  we  hear  Thy  call. 
We  test  our  lives  by  Thine." 

The  increase  of  Christ's  government  is  seen 
further  in  the  complete  putting  of  human  slavery 
under  the  ban  of  civilized  public  opinion 
throughout  the  world.  The  Christ  idea  of  hu- 
manity is  coming  to  the  throne  of  humanity. 

All  that  is  good  in  modern  socialism  marks 
the  increasing  influence  of  the  Christ  spirit  of 
human  brotherhood.  Significant  also  is  the  re- 
markable growth  of  the  missionary  spirit  among 
the  more  favored  Christian  people  of  our  day. 
Sign  also  of  the  increase  of  his  kind  of  govern- 
ment and  of  peace  among  men  is  the  continuing 
growth  of  the  peace  propaganda  among  the  na- 
tions. And  thus  the  time  is  surely  hastened 
when  God  shall  be  incarnate  in  all,  who  shall 
remain  in  His  presence,  as  He  is  incarnate  in 
the  Christ,  and  then  the  prophecy  shall  be  ful- 
filled in  the  Christian  love  of  every  human  being 
for  every  other,  and  the  government  shall  fully 
be  upon  his  shoulder. 


IX 

"IN  CHRIST" 

Jesus  sought  for  every  human  being  a  vital, 
psychological  union  with  himself.  This  was  to 
be  psychological  rather  than  physical;  mystical 
rather  than  literal  or  organic,  but  in  any  case 
vital,  life-bringing  and  fruit-resulting.  To  open 
the  way  to  the  realization  of  such  a  union  with 
himself  Jesus  revealed  the  Father  to  men  and 
gave  himself  in  prayer  and  self-renunciation  to 
be  a  vicarious  sacrifice  in  life  and  death  for  his 
fellow  men.  And  Jesus  expressed  all  this  in  the 
words  "in  me,"  or  when  Jesus  and  the  Father 
were  thought  of  as  one  then  Jesus  prayed  for 
his  disciples,  "That  they  also  may  be  in  us." 
The  union  which  Jesus  sought  was  a  union  of 
aim,  purpose,  way,  a  fellowship  of  ambition,  suf- 
fering,  life,   death   and   victory   with  himself. 

This  is  one  of  John's  great  doctrines.  John 
writes :  "Hereby  we  know  that  we  are  in  him : 
He  that  saith  he  abideth  in  him  ought  himself 
also  to  walk  even  as  he  walked"  (1  John  ii,  5, 
6).  To  abide  "in  Christ,"  according  to  John, 
is  "to  walk  even  as  he  walked."  John's  hope 
of  salvation  for  men  was  in  their  being  "in 
Christ."  Therefore  "whosoever  abideth  in  him 
sinneth  not."  Hereby  we  know  that  we  are  in 
him  if  we  walk  even  as  he  also  walked. 
114 


"IN  CHRIST"  115 

Paul's  gospel  has  sometimes  been  regarded  as 
a  gospel  of  the  resurrection.  His  own  supreme 
ambition  was  that  he  might  know  Christ  Jesus 
"and  the  power  of  his  resurrection,  and  the  fel- 
lowship of  his  sufferings,  becoming  conformed 
unto  his  death;  if  by  any  means  I  might  attain 
unto  the  resurrection  from  the  dead"  (Phil,  iii, 
10,  11).  And  all  this  he  hoped  to  realize 
through  being  in  Christ,  "for  whom,"  says  he, 
"I  suffered  the  loss  of  all  things,  and  do  count 
them  but  refuse,  that  I  might  gain  Christ,  and 
be  found  in  him,"  that  is,  in  such  complete 
harmony  and  fellowship  with  him  that  when  God 
shall  look  upon  him  with  approval  that  look 
will  include  Paul  also,  and  when  God  shall  show 
the  power  of  the  eternal  life  in  Christ,  that  ex- 
hibition will,  through  Paul's  being  thus  found 
in  Christ,  extend  also  to  him.  Paul  believed  that 
it  would  extend  also  to  everyone  who  through 
Christ-like  subordination  of  self  for  the  good 
of  others,  and  who  through  a  voluntary  refusal 
to  be  responsive  to,  or  alive  to,  the  things  of 
self  should  die  unto  self  in  order  to  be  responsive 
to  and  to  live,  as  Christ  did,  unto  God — ^to 
everyone  who  shall  be  thus  found  in  Christ,  that 
is,  in  such  fellowship  of  purpose  and  will  with 
Christ,  to  every  such  one  Paul  believed  God 
would  extend  the  same  manifestation  of  resurrec- 
tion power,  the  power  of  the  eternal  life,  as  unto 
Christ.  "For,"  wrote  Paul  to  the  Colossians, 
"ye  died,  and  your  life  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God. 


116       KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

When  Christ,  who  is  our  life,  shall  be  manifested, 
then  shall  ye  also  with  him  be  manifested  in 
glory"   (Col.   iii,  3,  4). 

"In  Christ."  The  preposition  "in"  (1)  may 
refer  to  place  relations,  as  in  the  same  locality 
or  place;  (2)  it  may  refer  to  temporal  relations; 
(3)  it  may  indicate  figurative  and  personal  re- 
lations. It  is  used  in  this  latter  sense  in  the 
phrase  "in  Christ,"  marking  the  close  fellowship 
between  the  Christian  and  Christ. 

J.  Dick  Fleming,  in  an  illuminating  article  on 
the  preposition  "in"  (Hastings'  "Christ  and  the 
Gospels"),  says:  "The  mystic  realism  of  the 
Pauline  and  Johannine  phrases  is  rather  to  be 
found  in  the  fact  that  they  approach  the  thought 
of  a  real  identification  with  the  Logos  or  the 
pneumatic  Christ.  The  life  divine  incorporates 
itself  in  the  Christian ;  the  Spirit  of  Christ  or  of 
God  takes  the  place  of  the  human  spirit,  and  is 
individualized  in  the  life  of  believers.  This  idea 
of  essential  spiritual  (mystica,  hypostatica) 
union  alone  does  justice  to  those  passages  where 
the  union  of  believers  with  Christ,  and  even  with 
one  another,  finds  sublimest  expression." 

Instructive  illustration  of  Paul's  use  of  the 
phrase  "in  Christ"  may  be  found  in  his  words 
to  the  Romans,  xiv,  14 :  "I  am  persuaded  in 
the  Lord  Jesus,"  that  is,  in  the  virtue  of  that 
fellowship ;  when  he  writes :  "Receive  him  in 
the  Lord,"  that  is,  in  the  spirit  of  such  fellow- 
ship (Phil,  ii,  29)  ;  "I  say  the  truth  in  Christ," 


"IN  CHRIST"  117 

that  is,  I  speak  the  truth  "as  one  united  with 
Christ"  (Rom.  ix,  1). 

The  apostle  sent  a  message  to  one  of  his 
preachers  (Col.  iv,  17):  "Take  heed  to  the 
ministry  which  thou  hast  received  in  the  Lord, 
that  thou  fulfill  it."  To  the  Colossian  Chris- 
tians he  wrote  (Col.  ii,  6,  7)  :  "As  therefore  ye 
received  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord,  so  walk  in  him, 
rooted  and  builded  up  in  him."  To  the  Philip- 
pians  he  wrote:  "Salute  every  saint  in  Christ 
Jesus"  (iv,  21). 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN 
PRAYER 

The  mystery  of  prayer  is  the  mystery  of  all 
spiritual  communication.  From  the  human 
point  of  view  this  must  ever  remain  a  mystery 
defying  all  final  explanation. 

But  insight  into  the  identity  of  the  mystery 
of  prayer  with  the  mystery  of  all  communica- 
tion of  one  spiritual  person  with  another,  will 
at  once  remove  all  inherent  difficulty  and  doubt 
concerning  prayer  from  the  mind  of  everyone 
who  believes  that  human  individuals  can  com- 
municate with  each  other.  To  any  person  who 
is  conscious  of  the  possibility  of  human  fellow- 
ship, and  who  has  faith  to  believe  that  the 
working  of  his  own  mind  can  be  trusted  in  this 
regard,  there  need  be  no  inherent  doubt  or 
difficulty  concerning  the  fundamental  problem  of 
prayer. 

But  as  it  would  be  possible  for  us  to  imagine 
a  person  or  persons  who  should  live  in  a  com- 
munity and  yet  never  enter  into  the  blessed 
privilege  of  human  fellowship,  so  it  is  possible 
for  men  and  women  to  have  their  very  life  in 
the  sustaining  power  of  God  and  yet  they  never 
enter  into  the  high  privilege  of  fellowship  with 
God  by  prayer.  This  indeed  has  been  and  still 
118 


CHRISTIAN  PRAYER  119 

is  true  of  a  great  portion  of  humanity.  From 
the  all-comprehending  point  of  view  of  Him  who 
is  our  Father  in  Heaven,  His  children  have  been 
and  are,  in  great  portion,  sour  and  grumpy, 
and  in  deepest  sense,  unsocial  because  of  sin. 

If  we  will  lift  up  our  eyes  that  we  may  see  and 
view  all  the  race  in  its  profoundest  relationships, 
we  shall  find  nothing  more  significant  in  the  life 
of  men  than  this  fact  of  which  I  have  just  been 
speaking.  Possibilities  of  fellowships  eternity- 
long  and  as  wide-reaching  as  the  universe  of  God 
exist  for  every  human  soul.  But  because  of  sin, 
either  one's  own  or  others'  sin,  the  millions  are 
dumb  and  grumpy,  sour  and  full  of  unbelief; 
God's  children  are  walking  upon  God's  great 
farm  without  an  acquaintance  with  the  Father; 
children  in  God's  great  family  without  the  fra- 
ternal spirit. 

Because  of  a  neglect  of  these  divine  fellow- 
ships, which  might  be  realized  in  prayer,  men 
go  on,  therefore,  and  neglect  earthly  fellowships 
which  would  find  their  chief  motive  and  support 
therein.  And  so  hate  and  envy  and  feud  and 
prejudice,  bloodshed,  oppression  and  war  con- 
tinue. 

The  purpose  of  Christ  therefore  has  been  to 
reconcile  mankind  unto  the  Father.  From  the 
Christian  point  of  view  to  establish  free  fellow- 
ship with  God,  in  the  case  of  any  individual,  is 
to  establish  a  life  of  prayer.  Christ  would  have 
all  men   cease  to  be  strangers   and   aliens   from 


120        KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

God,  and  have  them  brought  into  communion 
with  God,  filled  with  the  filial  spirit,  whereby 
they  may  know  and  communicate  with  God  as 
their  Father,  and  as  a  direct  consequence,  learn 
to  know  and  have  fellowship  with  each  other  as 
members  of  one  great  family,  one  brotherhood 
under  the  Fatherhood  of  God.  This  filial  rela- 
tionship between  a  soul  and  the  Heavenly  Father 
is  begun  and  continued  by  prayer.  And  there- 
fore the  life  of  the  Christian  is  distinctly  a  life 
of  prayer. 

And  therefore,  Jesus  "spake  a  parable  unto 
them  to  the  end  that  they  ought  always  to  pray, 
and  not  to  faint."  Therefore  Paul  exhorteth 
Timothy  "first  of  all,  that  supplications,  pray- 
ers, intercessions,  thanksgivings,  be  made  for  all 
men."  Therefore  Paul  also  expressed  his  desire 
"that  the  men  pray  in  every  place,  lifting  up 
holy  hands,  without  wrath  and  disputing." 
Therefore  James  wrote  "Pray  one  for  another." 
Therefore  when  the  Lord  visited  Ananias,  a  dis- 
ciple of  Damascus,  and  directed  him  to  go  to 
the  house  of  one  Judas  who  lived  on  Straight 
Street,  and  to  inquire  for  Saul  of  Tarsus,  who 
had  been  converted  while  on  his  way  to  Damas- 
cus, he  summed  up  the  great  and  radical  change 
which  had  taken  place  in  the  life  of  Saul  in  these 
comprehensive  words — "for  behold,  he  prayeth." 

The  place  and  mission  of  prayer  in  the  life 
of  the  Christian  may  be  further  seen  from  a 
study  of  a  lesson  which  Jesus  taught  his  dis- 


CHRISTIAN  PRAYER  121 

ciples  on  one  occasion  when  he  had  finished 
praying  in  a  certain  place  and  one  of  them  said 
unto  him,  "Lord,  teach  us  to  pray,  even  as 
John  also  taught  his  disciples."  Jesus  said  to 
his  disciples — "Ask,  and  it  shall  be  given  you; 
seek,  and  ye  shall  find;  knock,  and  it  shall  be 
opened  unto  you.  For  everyone  that  asketh  re- 
ceiveth ;  and  he  that  seeketh  findeth ;  and  to  him 
that  knocketh  it  shall  be  opened."  As  Andrew 
Murray  declares,  "God's  giving  is  inseparably 
connected  with  our  asking"  ("Min.  of  Interces- 
sion," p.  27).  God  can  do  for  the  person  who 
prays  what  He  can  not  do  for  the  person  who 
does  not  pray.  Or,  as  would  be  the  same  prop- 
osition stated  from  a  human  view-point,  the  per- 
son who  prays  is  able  to  receive  from  God  what 
the  person  who  does  not  pray  is  not  able  to 
receive. 

It  is  also  true  that  some  of  God's  best  gifts 
can  be  given  only  in  answer  to  importunate 
prayer.  That  is,  men  can  not  receive  some  of 
God's  best  gifts  except  in  answer  to  earnest,  im- 
portunate prayer. 

Further,  prayer  that  is  purely  for  personal 
ends  can  never  be  that  profitable,  ennobling 
reality  which  the  poet  calls  "the  Christian's  vital 
breath."  Christ  prayed  much  but  his  was  the 
prayer  of  intercession,  of  supplication,  of 
thanksgiving  for  others.  In  praying  for  him- 
self he  never  lost  sight  of  the  needs  of  a  sin-sick 
humanity.     Thus  in  prayer  Jesus  entered  into  a 


122       KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

complete  and  unobstructed,  filial  and  loyal  com- 
munion with  the  Father.  His  prayers  were 
always  according  to  God,  in  harmony  with  the 
divine  will ;  they  were  always  the  prayers  of  the 
completely  righteous  one  and,  therefore,  always 
answered,  always  effectual. 

The  same  principle  is  true  regarding  all  our 
praying.  Christ  has  given  in  his  gospel  won- 
derful prayer-promises,  but  all  these  promises 
are  carefully  stated  and  are  sure  only  when  the 
conditions  are  met.  The  prayer  to  which 
Christ's  promises  apply  is  not  heathen  prayer. 
It  is  not  for  purely  personal  ends.  It  must  be 
the  expression  of  a  certain  kind  of  life. 

And  this  suggests  why  some  prayers  are  not 
answered.  James  writes :  "Ye  ask,  and  receive 
not,  because  ye  ask  amiss,  that  ye  may  spend  it 
in  your  pleasures"  (Jas,  iv,  3).  Selfish  prayer 
can  not  find  a  way  to  the  Father.  The  prayer 
that  is  for  purely  personal  or  selfish  ends  is  not 
Christian  prayer.  Christ  never  promised  that 
such  prayers  should  be  answered;  it  would  be 
doing  violence  to  the  constitution  of  God's  King- 
dom. If  we  were  to  imagine  God  answering 
purely  selfish  prayers,  we  should  have  to  imagine 
God  as  consenting  to  promote  havoc  and  discord 
in  His  moral  universe.  God  will  not  promote 
havoc  and  discord  in  His  moral  world.  His  high 
purpose  is  the  establishment  of  peace  and  har- 
mony between  mankind  and  Himself,  and  between 
all  men  with  one  another.     If  you  have  prayed 


CHRISTIAN  PRAYER  123 

and  not  received  the  answer  to  your  prayers  as 
you  desired,  it  behooves  you  to  ask  yourself 
whether  your  prayers  were  truly  Christian 
prayers.  Remember  the  words  of  James  to  cer- 
tain ones  whose  prayers  were  not  answered: — 
"Ye  ask,  and  receive  not,  because  ye  ask  amiss, 
that  ye  may  spend  it  in  your  pleasures." 

What  then  is  Christian  prayer.''  What 
prayer  can  come  within  the  Christ  promise  or 
declaration  that  it  shall  be  answered?  Too 
much  of  our  praying  is  not  Christian,  even  if  it 
is  not  positively  heathen,  or  an  attempt  to  enlist 
God  in  the  promotion  of  our  own  selfish  pur- 
poses. Christian  prayer  shall  be  answered. 
But  what  is  truly  Christian  prayer.''  It  is 
prayer  in  Christ's  name.  To  ask  in  Christ's 
name  is  "to  ask  a  thing,  as  prompted  by  the 
mind  of  Christ  and  in  reliance  on  the  bond  which 
unites  us  to  him"  ("Thayer's  Lexicon,"  248). 
For  the  use  of  the  phrase,  "in  my  name,"  see 
John  xiv,  13,  14;  xv,  16;  xvi,  23;  xxiv,  26. 

Christian  prayer  must  be  oflFered  "as  prompted 
by  the  mind  of  Christ."  It  must  be  in  harmony 
with  Christ's  high  purpose  to  bring  all  who  will 
be  saved  into  a  vital  saving  relation  to  the 
Father.  Christ's  prayers  all  had  an  atoning 
purpose,  and  looked  toward  the  at-one-ment  of 
all  men  with  God,  that  so  there  might  come  ulti- 
mate peace  and  good  will  among  men.  When 
our  prayers  are  in  harmony  with  that  high  pur- 
pose they  are  then  true  Christian  prayers   and 


124       KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

they  shall  have  a  part  with  the  prayers  of  Christ 
in  the  atonement  of  mankind  with  God.  "If  ye 
abide  in  me,"  is  Christ's  statement,  "and  my 
words  abide  in  you,  ask  whatsoever  ye  will  and 
it  shall  be  done  unto  you"  (John  xv,  7).  We 
understand  now  what  is  meant  by  James :  "The 
supplication  of  a  righteous  man  availeth  much  in 
its  working"  (Jas.  iv,  16).  It  is  the  life  that 
abides  in  Christ,  and  that  is  in  harmony  with 
him,  that  can  enlist  divine  power  in  the  promo- 
tion of  its  purposes  and  the  fulfillment  of  its 
desires. 

But  what  shall  be  said  for  the  one  that  has 
prayed  long  and  earnestly  for  the  conversion  of 
loved  ones  who  are  still  unconverted,  possibly 
even  ridiculing  the  prayers  in  their  behalf? 
This  we  should  say,  that  it  is  the  desire  of  the 
great  and  loving  heart  of  Christ  that  everyone 
who  will  may  be  saved  and  be  brought  into 
the    most    filial    relationship    with    the    Father. 

But  Christ  and  God  cannot  be  thought  of  as 
doing  violence  to  truth.  God,  Himself,  can  not 
coerce  a  human  soul  and  at  the  same  time  treat  it 
as  free.  If  we  were  to  imagine  a  soul  forced  into 
harmony  with  God  we  should  have  therewith  to 
imagine  the  removal  of  the  very  elements  neces- 
sary to  that  soul's  salvation. 

If  your  prayers,  in  the  name  of  Christ,  and 
as  prompted  by  the  mind  of  Christ,  seem  not 
to  have  been  answered  by  the  turning  of  your 
friends  or  loved  ones  to  Christ,  remember  this, 


CHRISTIAN  PRAYER  125 

that  the  desires  of  God  and  the  prayers  of 
Christ  have  all  met  with  the  same  constitutional 
and  inherent  difficulties  as  your  own. 

Remember  this  also,  that  the  atoning  grace  of 
God  in  Christ  by  the  Spirit  can  overcome  all 
obstacles  and  win  every  victory  up  to  the  point 
where  to  go  further  would  be  to  break  down 
the  sovereignty  of  moral  freedom,  and  thus,  by 
forcing  the  soul,  remove  the  very  possibility  of 
any  attainment  of  the  end  sought.  In  all  this 
we  enter  by  prayer  into  the  same  great  work 
as  that  in  which  the  Father,  Son  and  Holy 
Spirit  are  engaged.  And  the  same  conditions 
and  rational  limitations  prevail  with  God  as 
with  us. 

We  need  not  be  discouraged  then  if  we  seem 
to  see  our  prayers  unanswered.  The  way  of 
eternal  life  with  God  is  the  way  of  Christ.  The 
Christ  way  is  the  way  of  prayer.  The  Chris- 
tian's vital  breath  is  prayer.  We  are  to  pray  for 
one  another,  and  for  all  men.  We  are  to  enter 
into  fellowship  with  God  by  prayer.  We  are  to 
be  intercessors  for  others,  and,  since  God  sends 
his  best  gifts  to  men  by  men,  having  sent  the 
gift  of  eternal  life  by  the  man  Christ  Jesus,  we 
are  to  receive  from  God,  in  answer  to  our 
prayers,  gifts  which  we  are  to  carry  to  others. 
Until  Christians  are  willing  to  become  interces- 
sors in  true  Christian  prayer  for  others,  until 
Christians  are  willing  to  take  the  place  of 
humble  initiative,  God  can  not  bestow  upon  them, 


126        KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

or,  from  the  human  view-point,  they  can  not  re- 
ceive those  gifts  (especially  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
Luke  xi,  13)  which  it  is  necessary  that  they 
should  receive  and  carry  to  others  both  for  their 
own  and  others'  saving.  So  must  we  widen  in 
our  prayers  until  we  take  in  all  the  world  for 
and  with  Christ. 

I  fear  we  do  not  pray  enough.  I  fear  too 
that  our  prayers  are  not  always  Christian.  We 
need  to  seek  the  Spirit  to  help  us  in  our  prayers, 
for  we  know  not  what  to  pray  for  unless  the 
Spirit  teach  us.  Let  us  pray  as  prompted  by 
the  mind  of  Christ,  that  so  we  may  enter  with 
Christ  into  the  work  of  world  redemption. 

"And  he  spake  a  parable  unto  them  to  the 
end  that  they  ought  always  to  pray,  and  not  to 
faint." 

"Pray  one  for  another." 

"For  behold,  he  prayeth." 


XI 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  THE  RELATION 
OF  THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE  TO  THE 
ATTAINMENT  OF  HUMAN  RIGHT- 
EOUSNESS 

We  are  coming  to  know  that  the  aim  of  the 
philosopher  is  a  systematic  and  comprehensive 
way  of  looking  at  things.  By  the  processes  of 
induction,  facts  are  gathered.  The  ways  in 
which  things  take  place,  the  order  of  anteced- 
ence and  sequence,  and  all  concomitant  varia- 
tions, are  observed  and  noted.  The  philosopher 
analyzes  the  facts,  reflects  upon  them  and  gives 
to  them  what  will  purport  to  be  a  rational  in- 
terpretation. The  philosophy  of  the  relation 
of  the  Messianic  hope  to  the  attainment  of 
human  righteousness  will  be,  therefore,  a  much 
needed  interpretation  and  explanation  of  the 
natural  and  normal  relation  of  that  hope  to  the 
attainment  of  such  a  righteousness. 

Our  philosophizing  in  the  present  case  must 
run  somewhat  as  follows.  At  some  point  very 
early  in  the  history  of  the  race  sin  entered  the 
life  of  men,  and  with  sin  came  a  moral  blinding, 
the  natural  result  of  such  disloyalty  to  the 
natural  human  sense  of  right  as  was  involved  in 
that  beginning  of  sin.  This  result  was  the 
natural  curse  from  sin.  But  with  the  curse  that 
1«7 


128        KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

came  upon  the  very  beginning  of  sin  came  also 
the  promise  or  hope  of  better  things  than  utter 
loss. 

Either  that  early  and  universal  hope  of  es- 
sential Messiah  was  from  God,  or  men  have  been 
hoping  in  God  vainly  all  these  ages.  Nothing 
is  more  sure  than  that  men  have  always  believed 
that  God  loved  righteousness  rather  than  sin, 
but  especially  has  this  been  true  of  that  people 
whose  hope  of  a  deliverer  was  very  early  traced, 
in  the  traditions  of  their  race,  to  what  they 
believed  to  be  the  promise  of  God  accompanying 
the  deliverance  of  judgment  upon  the  Tempter 
in  Eden.  The  inspired  writer  of  Genesis  ideal- 
ized the  spiritual  Tempter  in  Eden  as  a  serpent, 
and  he  declares  that  God,  when  He  pronounced 
judgment  upon  the  Tempter,  made  this  promise: 
"I  will  put  enmity  between  thee  and  the  woman, 
and  between  thy  seed  and  her  seed;  it  shall 
bruise  thy  head,  and  thou  shalt  bruise  his  heel." 

Thus  with  man's  first  fall  into  sin  came  the 
foregleams  of  Messiah.  Man  rose  from  that 
first  lapse  into  sin  to  go  forth  strengthened  by 
the  faith  that  God  had  in  his  heart  the  promise 
of  better  things,  and  the  hope  of  that  promise 
sustained  him  through  many  an  hour  of  tempta- 
tion and  trial. 

Very  early  a  religious  system  of  ritual  and 
symbol  was  established  which  served  to  keep 
alive  and  nourish  the  hope  of  the  Messianic  rule 
and    kingdom.     Gradually,    through    the    selec- 


THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE  129 

tion  of  moral  fitness,  the  hope  of  the  fulfillment 
of  the  promise  became  relatively  narrowed  to 
a  single  line.  We  read,  therefore,  the  word  of 
God  to  Abraham :  "I  will  make  thee  a  great  na- 
tion, and  I  will  bless  thee,  and  make  thy  name 
great;  and  thou  shalt  be  a  blessing: 
And  in  thee  shall  all  families  of  the  earth  be 
blessed.  .  .  .  And  in  thy  seed  shall  all  the 
nations  of  the  earth  be  blessed"  (Gen.  xii,  2,  3; 
xxii,  18).  The  Messianic  hope  has  undoubt- 
edly vaguely  stirred  in  the  breast  of  every 
people,  but  it  is  significant  that  most  peoples 
have  looked  back  to  a  golden  age  that  was  past. 
But  in  a  remarkable  degree  the  sons  of  Abraham 
proved  themselves  to  be  a  people  with  faith 
enough  in  God  to  respond  to  the  upward  lift  of 
a  splendid  hope.  Under  the  teaching  of  Him 
who  holdeth  us  all  in  his  arms,  this  people,  who 
could  in  spite  of  expulsion  from  Eden,  in  spite 
of  disappointment  and  exile,  yet  believe  in  prog- 
ress and  keep  their  faces  toward  the  future,  have 
in  a  remarkable  degree  seen  the  hope  of  the 
fulfillment  of  the  divine  promise  and  have  been 
thereby  unified  and  nationalized,  in  spite  even 
of  dispersion,  through  the  centuries. 

Moses'  interpretation  of  the  promise  of  God 
was  as  follows :  "I  will  raise  them  up  a  prophet 
from  among  their  brethren,  like  unto  thee,  and 
will  put  my  words  in  his  mouth;  and  he  shall 
speak  unto  them  all  that  I  shall  command  him" 
(Dt.  xviii,   15).     That  promise  of  God  spoken 


130       KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

to  Moses,  was  delivered  by  Moses  to  the  people 
when  he  said  before  the  assembly  of  "all  Israel," 
"The  Lord  thy  God  will  raise  up  unto  thee  a 
prophet  from  the  midst  of  thee,  of  thy  brethren, 
like  unto  me;  unto  him  ye  shall  hearken"  (Dt. 
xviii,  18).  Through  all  the  centuries  that  fol- 
lowed until  the  coming  of  Jesus  that  promise 
was  the  hope  of  Israel.  The  ultimate  fulfillment 
of  that  hope  became  the  inspiration  and  promise 
of  all  the  prophets  until  Jesus  came.  When 
Jesus  came  it  was  manifest  of  him  that  he  was 
"of  a  truth  that  prophet  that  should  come  into 
the  world"  (John  vi,  14). 

Again,  humanity  is  distinguished  from  the 
brute  by  a  capacity  for  the  attainment  of  moral 
righteousness.  Human  righteousness  is  moral 
righteousness. 

The  Messianic  hope  was  described  by  Paul  as 
the  hope  of  the  promise  of  God  made  unto  the 
fathers.  We  are  inquiring  at  this  time  the  rela- 
tion of  that  hope  to  the  progressive  attainment 
of  human  righteousness. 

The  history  of  the  moral  progress  of  human- 
ity may  be  regarded  as  dividing  into  three 
periods,  (1)  The  Prehistoric,  (2)  The  Legal- 
istic and  (3)  The  Christian.  The  conditions 
for  the  progressive  attainment  of  human  right- 
eousness in  the  prehistoric  period  are,  in  the 
nature  of  the  case,  beyond  the  reach  of  the 
historian's  investigation.  What  were  the  condi- 
tions of  moral  progress  In  Eden  we  can  only  In- 


THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE  131 

fer  as  we  trace  the  later  known  conditions  back 
into  the  period  of  the  unknown.  With  regard 
to  the  conditions  for  the  attainment  of  true 
righteousness  which  had  to  do  in  the  Hves  of 
our  first  parents  and  the  early  members  of  our 
race  we  know  very  little.  We  do  not  even  fully 
know  what  were  the  natural  human  endowments 
in  the  beginning  of  our  race.  We  must  ration- 
ally assume  that  there  were  given  (1)  a  moral 
environment  and  (2)  within  each  human  life 
there  was  the  power  of  response  or  moral  adjust- 
ment to  such  environment. 

With  the  earliest  dawn  of  human  history  this 
moral  environment,  which  as  we  have  seen  is 
one  of  the  rationally  assumed  conditions  for 
the  attainment  of  human  righteousness,  had  put 
on  the  character  of  the  moral  law.  This  law 
was  presented  as  the  commandment,  and  is  the 
distinctive  fact  in  the  second  or  legalistic  period 
in  the  history  of  the  progressive  attainment  of 
human  righteousness.  During  this  legalistic 
period  or  dispensation  of  law  the  highest  ideal 
righteousness  within  each  human  life  was,  natur- 
ally enough,  conceived  to  be  obedience — un- 
reasoning, unquestioning  obedience.  The  Spirit 
of  Truth  and  moral  longing  after  righteousness 
made  use  of  the  commandments  and  the  law  to 
deepen  the  sense  of  guilt  within  the  human 
breast.  Failure  to  measure  up  to  the  law  was 
used  by  the  Spirit  to  reveal  the  presence  of  sin. 
Therefore  Paul  could  say,  referring  to  his  life 


132       KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

under  the  law,  "I  had  not  known  sin,  but  by  the 
law"   (Rom.  vii,  7). 

But  humanity  is  finite  and  limited,  weak  of 
will  and  frail  of  body,  nervous  and  an  easy  prey 
to  temptation,  and  the  result  has  been  that  the 
more  humanity  has  tried  perfectly  to  keep  the 
law  and  all  the  commandments,  the  deeper  has 
become  the  conviction  of  sin  and  the  sense  of  un- 
avoidable guilt.  So  long  as  the  mind  of  man 
conceived  of  the  moral  environment  as  consisting 
wholly  of  law,  and  of  human  righteousness  as 
being  perfect  obedience  to  the  law,  just  so  long 
there  could  be  possible  to  frail  humanity  no  free- 
dom from  the  sense  of  guilt,  and  no  justifica- 
tion or  peace  within  or  without. 

But  we  can  not  rationally  conceive  of  God, 
after  he  had  created  men  and  had  endowed  them 
with  such  capacity  for  moral  life  and  with  such 
longing  for  ideal  human  righteousness, — we  can 
not  rationally  conceive  of  God,  after  all  of  that, 
as  then  leaving  the  race  to  struggle  on  in  hope- 
less despair  of  ever  attaining  the  goal  of  moral 
righteousness.  The  holding  of  such  a  concep- 
tion as  if  it  were  true  would  be  to  dishonor  a 
moral  God. 

We  are  not  surprised,  therefore,  that  from 
the  earliest  period  of  known  history  we  find  man- 
kind making  two  distinct  lines  of  effort  toward 
the  attainment  of  human  righteousness,  which  in 
its  ultimate  attainment  shall  bring  peace  and 
justification  from  all  sin.     I  refer  (1)   To  re- 


THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE  133 

ligious  legalism  and  (2)  To  prophetism.  Re- 
ligious legalism  was  an  effort  to  attain  human 
righteousness  by  means  of  an  absolute  obedi- 
ence to  law.  We  have  already  seen  how  in  a 
race  like  our  own  such  an  effort  was  sure  to  fail. 
It  was  nevertheless  promotive  of  sturdy  and 
heroic  character  and  always  stood  for  the  con- 
servative element  both  in  individual  and  social 
life.  But  the  Spirit  of  the  living  God  would 
not  leave  man  imprisoned  in  a  moral  environ- 
ment of  absolute  law,  faithful  attempt  to  obey 
which  would  only  lead  to  deeper  despair.  It  is 
not  strange,  therefore,  that  the  same  Spirit, 
which  at  the  first  breathed  a  moral  nature  into 
man,  should  also  very  early  whisper  into  the 
soul  of  man  a  promise.  That  promise  spoke  of 
better  things  than  failure.  It  told  of  a  time 
when  the  soul,  incapable  in  its  frailty  of  achiev- 
ing by  itself  an  absolute  moral  righteousness, 
should  nevertheless  attain  to  a  moral  righteous- 
ness which  should  be  perfect  according  to  the 
nature  of  man,  even  as  the  righteousness  of  God 
is   perfect  according  to  the  nature  of  God. 

It  was  the  high  mission  of  prophetism  to  keep 
alive  and  fan  into  a  flame  the  hope  of  the  ful- 
fillment of  that  promise.  The  prophets  of 
Israel  were  encouraged  by  that  hope  and  they, 
in  turn,  stirred  up  all  Israel  to  wait  earnestly 
for  the  fulfillment  of  that  hope.  The  hope  was 
not  only  the  hope  of  a  line  of  prophets,  as  at 
first   in    Israel,   but    early    it   caught   the   fore- 


134        KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

gleams  of  the  coming  of  "that  prophet"  who 
should  himself  become  the  real  fulfillment  of  the 
world's  hope,  and  who  should  so  spiritualize  the 
moral  environment  of  men,  so  revolutionize  men's 
ideals  of  human  righteousness,  that  ever  after 
there  should  be  "no  condemnation  to  them  which 
are  in  Christ  Jesus,  .  .  .  who  walk  not 
after  the  flesh,  but  after  the  Spirit"  (Rom.  viii, 
1-4). 

Such,  in  broad  outlines,  was  "the  hope  of  the 
promise  made  of  God"  unto  the  fathers.  Such 
was  the  Messianic  hope  of  Israel,  a  vision  of 
which  gave  substance  to  the  message  of  all  the 
prophets  from  the  time  of  Moses  to  that  of  John 
the  Baptist.  Such  was  the  hope  so  demonstra- 
bly fulfilled  in  Jesus,  of  whom  Moses  and  all  the 
prophets  prophesied,  and  in  complete  response 
to  whom  thousands  and  millions  of  earth's  sin- 
discouraged  souls,  since  his  coming,  have  found 
peace  and  joy,  and,  being  made  free  from  sin, 
have  become  free  servants  of  God,  having  their 
fruit  unto  righteousness,  and  the  end  everlast- 
ing life.  Before  the  coming  of  Jesus,  the  hope 
of  Messiah,  the  Messianic  hope  of  Israel  and  of 
the  World,  was  manifestly  unfulfilled.  But 
since  Jesus  came  there  has  been  no  pure  and 
noble  aspiration  of  the  human  heart  after  peace 
and  moral  righteousness  that  he  could  not 
satisfy. 

In  the  history  of  man's  progressive  attain- 
ment   of   moral   righteousness   nothing   is   more 


THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE  135 

clearly  demonstrated  than  that  Jesus  of  Naza- 
reth was  the  Messiah  foretold  by  the  prophets, 
and  the  fulfillment  of  the  Messianic  hope.  He, 
above  all  others,  was  "that  prophet,"  whom  God 
promised,  who  should  be  like  unto  Moses,  and 
unto  him  the  people  were  to  hearken.  Jesus  was 
like  unto  Moses,  and  yet  Moses  could  never  have 
become  the  world's  hope,  as  is  Jesus,  "For  the 
law  was  given  by  Moses,  but  grace  and  truth 
came  by  Jesus  Christ"  (John  i,  17). 

We  have  thus  looked  upon  the  philosophy  of 
the  relation  of  the  Messianic  hope  to  the  pro- 
gressive attainment  of  human  righteousness. 
And  thus  do  we  not  see  how  close  has  been  the 
relation  of  that  hope  to  the  attainment  of  human 
righteousness?  That  hope  was  for  ages  the 
luminous  fore-gleam  of  human,  moral  possibili- 
ties, and  it  kept  the  soul  of  man  from  giving  up 
in  despair.  And  in  its  fulfillment  it  has  so 
spiritualized  the  moral  atmosphere  of  human  life 
as  to  render  possible  that  which  was  before  im- 
possible, even  bringing  to  pass  "That  the  right- 
eousness of  the  law  might  be  fulfilled  in  us,  who 
walk  not  after  the  flesh,  but  after  the  Spirit" 
(Rom.  viii,  4). 


xn 

THE  BIBLE— WHAT  IS  CLAIMED 
FOR  IT 

The  Christian  world  makes  the  astounding 
claim  that  the  Christian  Bible  is  not  only  a 
unique  book  in  literature,  but  that  in  a  wholly 
unique  sense  it  was  given  by  inspiration  of  God. 

The  Christian's  claim,  upon  which  the  whole 
fabric  of  his  hope  depends,  is  nothing  less  than 
that  the  Bible  contains  a  sufficient,  and  the  only 
sufficient,  revelation  of  God's  will  and  disposition 
toward  men,  and  of  man's  right  relation  toward 
God,  and  that  it  is  "also  profitable  for  teach- 
ing, for  reproof,  for  correction,  for  instruction 
which  is  in  righteousness :  that  the  man  of  God 
may  be  complete,  furnished  completely  unto 
every  good  work." 

It  is  not  claimed  that  the  Bible  was  inspired 
in  any  particular  manner.  All  the  Christian 
world  is  agreed  that  the  Bible  was  divinely  in- 
spired, but  it  is  not  agreed  as  to  any  special 
theory  of  inspiration. 

Neither  is  it  claimed  that  all  of  the  Bible  is 
of  equal  value.  Long  statistical  lists  in  the 
Books  of  Chronicles  are  not  as  profitable  for 
teaching  as  are  the  lofty  anthems  of  the  Psalmist 
or  the  fifty-third  chapter  of  Isaiah. 

God  has  given  a  message  in  the  Bible  which 
136 


THE  BIBLE  137 

man's  uninspired  wisdom  could  not  have  dis- 
covered, but  in  the  conveying  of  that  message 
human  agents  were  employed.  It  is  not  claimed 
that  they  were  always  free  from  error.  In  this 
sense  the  Bible  is  certainly  not  inerrant.  But 
let  quibblers  and  doubters  and  disturbed  be- 
lievers remember  that  the  Bible  was  never  in- 
tended for  a  text  book  in  geology — and  yet  the 
most  essential  element  in  the  modem  scientific 
theory  of  creation  was  written  down  by  a  Jew 
three  thousand  years  before  the  birth  of  modern 
science,  and  he  said  then  what  modern  science 
repeats  to-day:  "In  the  beginning  God  created." 
In  the  Bible  God  did  not  write  to  the  geolo- 
gist as  a  geologist,  nor  to  the  chemist  as  a 
chemist,  nor  to  the  mineralogist  as  a  mineralo- 
gist, nor  to  the  astronomer  as  an  astronomer, 
but  rather  did  He  write  to  man  as  man.  The 
Bible  is  God's  fullest  word  to  the  soul.  In  it 
God  has  revealed  to  man  the  divine  will  and 
purpose  touching  human  destiny.  In  the  Bible 
God  has  told  us  that  about  Himself  which  nature 
never  told  to  any  man,  but  which  we  needed  to 
know.  We  could  have  learned  that  God  was 
creator  and,  possibly,  that  He  was  the  ruler  of 
the  world,  but  without  special  revelation  no  one 
ever  came  to  know  that  God  is  love  and  that 
He  careth  for  men  better  than  an  earthly  father 
can  care  for  his  own  children.  Thereby  God 
has  justified  His  ways  unto  men  and  has  satis- 
fied  the    responding   human    soul   with    fatness. 


138       KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

No  one  who  will  view  the  Bible  as  containing 
God's  progressive  revelation  to  the  human  soul, 
which  message  culminates  in  Jesus  Christ,  will 
be  able  to  place  the  finger  of  criticism  upon  a 
single  place  where  real  improvement  could  be 
made.  And  it  is  insisted,  without  any  fear  of 
successful  contradiction,  that,  when  the  Bible  is 
thus  viewed  within  the  manifest  scope  of  the  di- 
vine purpose,  it  will  be  found  to  be  absolutely 
without  error. 

It  is  not  claimed  that  there  is  no  truth  in 
other  books  of  religion,  but  it  is  claimed  that 
the  only  sufficient  and  adequate  revelation  for 
the  soul's  needs  is  contained  in  the  Bible.  The 
sacred  books  of  the  world  are  to-day  known  and 
read  of  men,  and  every  one  of  them  except  the 
Christian  Bible  is  manifestly  inadequate.  With 
the  advance  of  science,  knowledge  and  light, 
these  must  decrease  while  the  Bible  continues  to 
increase. 

The  Bible  more  than  any  other  book  is  an 
all-man's-book.  It  speaks  to  the  soul.  It  has  a 
message  for  the  untutored  savage,  and  the  man 
of  the  university  can  never  get  beyond  it.  It 
speaks  to  all  ages  and  conditions  and  tells  that 
which  nature  never  told — that  God  is  our  Father 
and  that  we  are  the  children  of  His  care.  It  Is 
the  most  all-pervasive  book  known  among  men, 
and  it  brings  to  all,  who  will  receive  its  message, 
a  knowledge  of  the  infinite  grace  of  God  re- 
vealed in  Jesus  the  Christ. 


THE  BIBLE  139 

What  has  the  Bible  not  been?  And  what  is  it 
not  to-day  in  art,  in  literature,  in  law,  in  ethics? 
Whenever  an  artist  would  dip  his  brush  in  im- 
mortality he  covers  his  canvas  with  a  scene  from 
its  pages.  When  John  Bunyan  would  write  for 
the  centuries  and  also  for  the  multitudes  he  must 
take  for  his  hero  a  Bible  pilgrim.  When  John 
Ruskin  would  write  the  finest  English  of  his 
century  he  must  learn  his  style  and  gain  the  in- 
spiration for  his  message  from  the  English 
Bible.  Righteous  law  must  trace  its  beginning 
to  Moses,  and  its  culmination  to  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount.  The  Bible  doctrine  of  the  universal 
Fatherhood  of  God  and  the  consequential  uni- 
versal brotherhood  of  man  is  the  foundation 
doctrine  of  ethics  at  the  beginning  of  the  twenti- 
eth century.  The  cause  of  this  so  great  and 
beneficial  influence  must  be  adequate  to  the  effect. 
It  is  nothing  less  than  the  character  of  divine 
authority  given  to  the  Scriptural  words  of  grace 
and  revelation  by  their  primary  and  originating 
author — God. 

The  gift  of  eternal  life  comes  through  faith 
in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Inspiration  comes  of 
the  Holy  Spirit;  and  that  which  is  most  "profit- 
able for  teaching,  for  reproof,  for  correction, 
for  instruction  which  is  in  righteousness,"  comes 
through  the  mediumship  of  the  Holy  Bible.  The 
Bible  is  not  as  profitable  as  some  other  books  for 
instruction  in  geology,  or  physics,  or  mechanics, 
or  surgery,   or  astronomy,  but  it  Is  the   most 


140       KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

profitable  book  ever  known  among  men  for  in- 
struction "which  is  in  righteousness."  And 
since  instruction  in  righteousness  must  ever  be 
essential  to  the  conserving  of  the  civilization 
which  we  have,  and  to  the  further  progress  of 
the  race,  therefore,  it  may  be  truly  said  that 
next  to  the  gift  of  God's  Son,  by  whom  comes 
life,  and  next  to  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  by 
whom  comes  the  desire  to  live  that  life  nobly  and 
well,  is  God's  gift  of  the  Bible,  by  which  we  may 
ever  learn  how  to  make  the  most  for  time  and 
eternity  of  the  life  inspired,  which  God  has 
granted  through  the  Son  and  the  Holy  Spirit. 

Finally,  if  you  are  not  Christian,  or  if  you 
think  you  do  not  believe  the  Bible,  will  you  pass 
judgment  upon  a  book  the  contents  of  which 
you  do  not  know?  Surely  it  would  be  more 
reasonable,  and  more  to  your  own  best  interest, 
to  study  the  book  which  looms  so  large  in  the 
past  and  present  of  the  world's  best  thought  and 
achievement. 

Certainly  every  Christian  should  faithfully 
study  this  book,  so  pre-eminent  for  wise  and 
beneficent  instruction  in  all  righteousness. 

Fathers  and  mothers  should  study  the  Bible 
themselves,  and  teach  it  to  their  children  around 
the  family  altar.  So  may  righteousness  be  con- 
served and  promoted  and  the  truth  of  God  be 
known  among  men. 


XIII 

ORIGIN  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  AND 
THE  FIXING  OF  THE  CANON 

It  is  probable  that  a  majority  of  the  persons 
who  believe  in  the  teachings  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment could  not  give  a  reasonably  historical  ac- 
count of  its  origin ;  nor  could  they  tell  how  the 
New  Testament  Canon  came  to  be  fixed  as  it 
is.  And  yet  in  a  day  when  faith  calls  for  the 
uncovering  of  historical  foundations  as  never 
before,  such  knowledge  could  not  but  prove 
steadying  and  helpful  to  the  faith  of  many. 
Let  us  consider,  then,  first,  the  origin  of  the  New 
Testament,  and,  second,  the  fixing  of  the  New 
Testament  Canon. 

In  the  first  place,  it  must  be  remembered  that 
the  apostolic  age  was  not  a  time  of  making  books, 
and  when  a  book  was  made  its  extensive  publica- 
tion involved  the  prolonged  labors  of  the  copy- 
ist. If  we  also  bear  in  mind  that  for  at  least 
a  generation  after  the  manifestation  of  our  Lord 
there  were  those  yet  living  who  had  been  eye- 
witnesses of  the  events  of  his  earthly  ministry, 
we  shall  see  that  it  was  only  natural  that  tradi- 
tion should  be  highly  esteemed  among  early 
Christians  as  a  source  of  information  regarding 
Christian  history  and  teaching,  Papias,  who 
wrote  during  the  early  part  of  the  second 
141 


142       KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

century,  says :  "If  I  met  with  anyone  who  had 
been  a  follower  of  the  elders  anywhere,  I  made 
it  a  point  to  inquire  what  were  the  declarations 
of  the  elders ;  what  was  said  by  Andrew,  Peter, 
or  Philip ;  what  by  Thomas,  James,  John,  Mat- 
thew, or  any  other  of  the  disciples  of  our  Lord; 
what  was  said  by  Aristion,  and  the  Presbyter 
John,  disciples  of  the  Lord;  for  I  do  not  think 
that  I  derived  so  much  benefit  from  books  as 
from  the  living  voice  of  those  that  are  still  sur- 
viving" ("Eusebius,"  Book  iii,  chap.  39). 

However,  the  weakness  of  all  hearsay  evidence 
attaches  to  tradition,  and  the  farther  we  get 
from  the  original  source  the  more  apparent  this 
becomes.  Therefore,  it  soon  became  necessary 
for  the  preservation  of  the  Christian  teaching, 
pure  and  undefiled,  that  those  matters  which  had 
thus  far  been  held  as  authentic  tradition  should 
be  transferred  to  writing.  Luke  tells  us  in  the 
preface  to  his  Gospel  that  "many  had  taken  in 
hand"  to  do  this.  It  is  also  essentially  Luke's 
own  reason  for  writing  The  Gospel. 

Another  class  of  writings  early  played  an  im- 
portant role  in  the  growing  life  and  thought  of 
the  church.  It  was  a  custom  prevalent  among 
the  early  bishops  and  leaders  of  the  church  to 
address  letters  to  distant  churches  in  which  they 
might  for  any  particular  reason  be  interested. 
This  is  the  manner  in  which  a  large  part  of  the 
New  Testament  came  into  existence.  It  was 
customary  to  read  these  letters  to  the  churches 


ORIGIN  OF  NEW  TESTAMENT      143 

in  the  public  congregations.  Eusebius  quoted 
from  a  letter  of  Dionysius,  bishop  of  Corinth, 
written  to  Soter,  bishop  of  Rome,  as  follows : 
"To-day  we  have  passed  the  Lord's  holy  day,  in 
which  we  have  read  your  epistle,  in  reading  which 
we  shall  always  have  our  minds  stored  with  ad- 
monition, as  we  shall,  also,  from  that  written  to 
us  before  by  Clement"  (Book  iv,  chap.  23).  It 
is  said  of  Dionysius ;  "But  he  was  most  useful 
to  all  in  the  catholic  epistles  that  he  addressed 
to  the  churches."  Paul  ordered  the  Thes- 
salonians  that  his  letter  to  them  should  "be  read 
unto  all  the  holy  brethren"  (1  Thess.  v,  27). 

It  was  also  customary  for  these  letters  to 
circulate  among  the  churches.  In  Paul's  letter 
to  the  Colossians  he  says :  "And  when  this  let- 
ter is  read  among  you,  cause  that  it  also  be 
read  in  the  church  of  the  Laodiceans ;  and  that 
ye  likewise  read  the  epistle  from  Laodicea"  (Col. 
iv,  16).  How  the  Christian  world  would  go  into 
excitement  if  that  letter  of  Paul  to  the  Laodi- 
ceans should  be  found !  The  book  called  Pastor, 
though  a  disputed  writing,  and  one  which  did  not 
finally  find  a  place  in  the  Canon,  also  is 
mentioned  by  Eusebius  as  having  been  "in 
public  use"  in  the  churches  (Book  iii,  chap.  3). 

So  much  as  to  the  origin  of  certain  early 
Christian  writings.  What  was  it  that  raised  the 
question  of  their  authorship  or  canonicity  into 
real  importance?  The  answer  must  be,  heresy 
within     the     church     and     heathenism     without. 


144        KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

Quite  early  it  became  apparent  that  the  law  of 
self-preservation  demanded  that  catholic  Christ- 
ianity should  present  a  united  front.  The  great 
and  apparent  need  of  the  church  soon  came  to 
be  a  standard  upon  which  catholic  or  universal 
Christianity  might  substantially  agree,  and  to 
which  appeal  might  be  made,  to  determine  the 
true  scope  and  contents  of  the  Christian  system, 
as  against  the  corrupting  influence  of  heresy 
within  the  church  and  the  manifold  assaults  of 
heathenism  without.  Christian  scholars  gave 
earnest  study  to  this  subject.  The  experience 
and  usage  of  the  wide-spreading  church  were 
carefully  investigated.  Such  great  theologians 
as  Origen  and  Irenseus  furnished  important  con- 
tributions to  the  discussion.  Certainly  before 
the  end  of  the  second  century  the  church  at  large 
had  come  to  substantial  agreement  concerning 
the  books  which  might  be  accepted  as  authorita- 
tive Christian  Scriptures ;  and  the  books  thus 
accepted  constituted  the  New  Testament 
Canon. 

In  the  nature  of  the  case  one  would  not  ex- 
pect upon  this  subject  absolute  agreement. 
Eusebius  published  his  Ecclesiastical  History  as 
late  as  320  a.d.  He  mentions  a  large  number 
of  books  which  were  then  regarded  as  of  doubt- 
ful authorship  and  canonicity.  By  a  careful 
reading  of  Eusebius  I  have  found  that,  among 
the  books  which  more  than  two  centuries  after 


ORIGIN  OF  NEW  TESTAMENT     145 

the  death  of  all  the  apostles  were  yet  counted 
by  some  as  at  least  of  doubtful  canonicity,  were 
the  following  which  finally  found  a  place  in  the 
New  Testament  Canon:  The  Epistle  to  the  He- 
brews ;  the  Epistle  of  James ;  the  Second  Epistle 
of  Peter;  the  Second  and  Third  Epistles  of 
John;  the  Epistle  of  Jude,  and  the  Book  of 
Revelation.  And  the  following  which  in  the  time 
of  Eusebius  were  still  of  doubtful  canonicity  did 
not  finally  find  a  place  in  the  New  Testament 
Canon:  The  Epistle  of  Clement  of  Rome  to  the 
Corinthians  ;  the  Epistle  of  Barnabas  ;  the  Pastor 
of  Hermas ;  the  Apocalypse  of  Peter ;  the  Insti- 
tutions of  the  Apostles ;  the  Acts  of  Paul ;  the 
Gospel  according  to  the  Hebrews ;  the  Acts  of 
Peter,  and  the  Gospel  according  to  Peter. 

Some  time  after  Eusebius  the  church  took  it 
in  hand  to  close  the  Canon.  The  Council  of 
Laodicea  in  363  a.d.  declared  that  only  "canoni- 
cal" books  should  be  read  in  the  churches.  The 
test  of  canonicity  has  always  been  the  accept- 
ance or  rejection  of  any  book  by  the  church. 
Upon  the  most  essential  records  of  the  New 
Testament  the  church  has  maintained  substantial 
agreement.  The  less  essential  records  have 
sometimes  been  disputed.  Christians  every- 
where believe  that  the  best  that  the  inspiration 
of  the  apostolic  age  could  furnish  is  preserved 
in  the  canonical  books  of  the  New  Testament. 
Who  that  has  compared  the  New  Testament  with 


146       KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

other  writings  of  the  early  Christian  era  can 
doubt  but  that  the  Holy  Spirit  guided  in  the 
selection  of  the  writings  which  should  constitute 
the  Christian  Word  of  God  to  men? 


XIV 
A  CONVICTION  ABOUT  SIN 

A  correct  view  of  sin  is  exceedingly  important. 
It  has  been  estimated  that  ninety  per  cent,  of  all 
doctrinal  errors  have  come  from  defective  views 
of  sin.  When  one's  sense  of  sin  breaks  down, 
his  sense  of  righteousness  will  become  lopsided 
and  lean.  A  man  who  does  not  believe  in  sin 
is  a  man  who,  if  he  is  consistent,  does  not  be- 
lieve in  righteousness.  It  is  impossible  to  con- 
ceive of  goodness  except  as  it  is  conceived  as 
over  against  the  idea  of  badness. 

How  great  shall  be  one's  appreciation  of  re- 
demption through  Christ  will  be  determined  by 
the  degree  of  his  appreciation  of  need  through 
sin.  If  humanity  is  not  undone  in  sin,  then  the 
work  of  Christ  is  a  delusion,  and  there  is  no  sal- 
vation, since  there  is  no  need  of  any.  If  there 
is  no  sin  then  Christ  was  wrong,  and  all  the 
prophets  and  all  the  reformers,  who  have  burned 
with  zeal  for  righteousness  have  been  mistaken, 
and  the  conscience  of  humanity  has  strangely 
erred. 

If  there  is  no  sin,  then  there  is  no  hell.  If 
there  is  no  hell,  then  there  is  no  heaven.  Hell 
is  the  state  of  those  who  have  disobeyed  their 
God-given  conscience;  that  is,  hell  is  the  state 
of  those  who  have  sinned.  Heaven  is  the  state 
147 


148        KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

of  those  who  have  obeyed  their  God-given  con- 
science; that  is,  it  is  the  state  of  those  who  have 
done  righteousness.  But  there  is  no  one  who  has 
not  come  under  the  guilt  of  sin.  All  who  have 
sinned  need  a  Saviour,  but  none  others  do. 

It  has  been  said  that  ours  is  a  time  when  the 
sense  of  sin  rests  very  lightly  upon  the  con- 
sciences of  men.  If  that  is  true,  is  it  also  true 
that  any  real  sense  of  righteousness  must  rest 
lightly  upon  us?  Should  it  not  be  remembered 
that  when  sin  shall  have  ceased  to  be  hideous, 
then  righteousness  will  have  lost  its  glory? 

The  religious  faculty  is  natural  in  all  men, 
but  it  does  not  manifest  itself  in  the  same  way 
among  all.  There  have  been  peoples  among 
whom  there  was  little,  if  any,  trace  of  sin-con- 
sciousness. Scholars  say  that  this  was  true  in 
Egyptian  literature.  They  also  tell  us  that  the 
poetry  of  Homer  contains  no  villain. 

A  definite  work  of  the  Spirit  of  Truth  in  every 
age  has  been  to  bring  to  men  a  conviction  about 
sin,  and  after  that  about  righteousness.  Ritual 
and  symbol  have  been  used,  commandments  have 
been  given,  psalmists  have  sung,  prophets  have 
warned,  and  judgment  has  been  visited  upon 
transgressors  for  the  very  purpose  of  creating 
such  a  sense  of  the  hideousness  and  guilt  of  sin 
as  should  prepare  the  way  for  all  true  penitents 
to  receive  salvation  and  life.  The  man  who  has 
no  sense  of  the  death-dealing  character  of  sin 
can  have  no  sense  of  his  own  need  of  divine  help. 


A  CONVICTION  ABOUT  SIN        149 

Therefore,  it  is  not  strange  that  the  first  ele- 
ments in  the  Bibhcal  revelation  pertain  to  sin. 
And  this  revelation  is  clearly  intended  to  create 
in  humanity  an  abiding  sense  of  the  terrors  and 
devastations  of  sin,  and  to  promote  a  sense  of 
guilt  for  sin.  It  has  been  thus  that  the  law, 
which  has  approved  itself  to  the  human  con- 
science, has  been  the  instrument  of  the  Spirit  of 
Truth  to  teach  men  the  reality  of  sin.  There- 
fore, Paul  declared:  "I  had  not  known  sin,  but 
by  the  law"  (Rom.  vii,  7).  And  Christ  saw 
that  a  special  work  of  the  Spirit  when  he  should 
come  to  the  church  after  Pentecost,  would  be  to 
bring  to  the  world  a  conviction  about  sin:  "And 
he,  when  he  is  come,  will  convict  the  world  in 
respect  of  sin"  (John  xvi,  8). 

As  a  natural  result  of  the  Biblical  revelation 
about  sin,  and  of  the  consequent  sense  of  sin 
among  men,  the  Bible  has  well  been  called  "a 
book  of  great  penitents."  Such  were  David, 
Isaiah  and  Paul.  Since  Bible  times,  under  the 
special  illumination  of  the  Spirit,  naturally 
enough  we  have  had  such  great  penitents  as 
Augustine,  Luther,  Bunyan,  Wesley  and  Moody. 
These  have  been  great  seekers  of  life  and  salva- 
tion for  themselves  and  for  the  world  only  as 
they  have  first  been  brought  under  tremendous 
and  abiding  conviction  of  their  own  and  of  the 
world's  need. 

The  forms  of  the  manifestation  of  a  convic- 
tion about  sin  have  been  as  various  as  have  been 


150       KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

the  temperaments  and  conditions  of  men.  We 
need  care  little  for  the  form  which  the  manifesta- 
tion of  the  sense  of  sin  shall  assume,  whether  it 
shall  be  the  jerks,  visions,  voices,  fear  of  hell, 
dread  of  displeasing  friends,  crying,  groaning, 
or  any  other  of  the  many  forms  which  have  been 
seen  in  the  past,  or  which  may  be  seen  in  the 
future.  But  this  should  never  be  forgotten,  that 
they  who  would  hope  to  see  the  glory  of  right- 
eousness must  somehow  first  have  seen  the  hide- 
ousness  of  sin. 

The  revelation  of  the  grace  of  God  and  the 
mission  of  Christ  Jesus  and  the  purpose  of 
moral  heroes  since  the  world  began  have  been  to 
save  the  world  from  the  deceitfulness  and  ruin  of 
sin.  Every  moral  aspiration,  every  hymn  of 
praise,  every  true  prayer,  every  philanthropic 
institution,  every  endeavor  toward  reform  and 
every  true  Christian  church  throughout  the 
world  means,  if  it  means  anything,  a  desire  to 
be  saved  from  "The  wrath  of  God"  that 
"abideth"  upon  all  indolence,  shiftlessness,  un- 
thankfulness,  refusal  to  have  God  in  all  one's 
thoughts,  a  denial  of  human  brotherhood,  in- 
difference to  human  misery,  and  upon  all  sin,  and 
to  save  the  world  from  such. 

The  world  everywhere,  then,  should  learn,  and 
the  church  not  forget,  that  if  men  and  women  are 
to  know  God  and  his  righteousness  they  must 
somehow  be  deeply  convinced  of  sin  and  their 
own  consequent  need.     Let  it  not  be  forgotten, 


A  CONVICTION  ABOUT  SIN        151 

then,  that  only  where  there  is  an  abiding  convic- 
tion about  sin  can  there  be  any  expectation  of 
an  abiding  appreciation  of  the  grace  of  God  in 
Christ.  Men  need  everywhere  a  conviction  about 
sin  in  order  that  they  may  have  a  conviction 
about  righteousness,  and  judgment,  and  God. 


XV 

THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RETRIBUTION 

The  making  of  heaven  or  hell  takes  place 
under  the  working  of  the  one  comprehensive  law 
of  retribution.  Hell  may  no  longer  be  thought 
of  as  a  place  where  an  angry  God  puts  the 
souls  of  those  who  may  have  aroused  His  wrath; 
nor  is  it  a  place  where  He  puts  those  who  were 
unconditionally  condemned  to  its  torments  be- 
fore the  world  was  made.  Heaven  is  not  a  place 
reserved  for  those  who  were  in  some  uncondi- 
tional way  elected  to  its  glories  ages  ago.  Both 
of  these  ideas  have  been  widely  held  in  some 
periods  of  the  past.  The  great  part  of  the 
Christian  world  do  not  so  believe  to-day. 
Neither  is  hell  a  place  warmed  by  the  fires  of 
burning  brimstone,  though  such  unspiritual  and 
materialistic  notions  were  in  certain  times  widely 
held.  Nor  is  heaven  a  city  in  which  the  streets 
are  paved  with  gold,  though  such  unspiritual 
and  materialistic  notions  of  heaven  have  all  too 
largely  prevailed  in  the  past. 

As  symbols  and  figures  of  description  of  that 
which  will  abide  when  all  that  is  physical  is  done 
away,  fire  or  golden  pavements  are  all  very  good. 
Indeed  it  is  necessary  to  use  just  such  symbols 
whenever  we  wish  to  speak  of  and  describe  the 
152 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  RETRIBUTION      153 

characters  of  the  non-physical  and  invisible  facts 
of  life  and  environment.  Who  can  find  a  word 
that  will  do  better  in  thought  expression  than  to 
say  of  love  that  it  grows  cold  or  is  warm?  We 
know  what  is  meant  when  one  says  of  another — 
"he  is  an  all-round  man,"  and  then  perhaps  of 
the  same  person  it  may  be  said — "he  is  four- 
square from  the  groimd  up."  Why  is  it  that 
we  should  have  no  trouble  to  understand  these 
figurative  expressions  in  any  field  of  human 
knowledge  except  that  of  religion?  Why  do  we 
understand  what  is  meant  when  one  is  warned 
to  keep  away  from  certain  people  unless  he  would 
get  burned,  but  do  not  understand  what  is  meant 
when  Jesus  should  warn  us  to  avoid  a  certain 
kind  of  life  unless  we  would  fall  into  the  fires 
of  hell  which  are  the  fires  of  retribution  or  of 
consequences .''  Why  do  we  understand  figurative 
language  as  figurative  in  the  one  instance,  but 
not  in  the  other? 

The  world  is  coming  to  understand  what  Jesus 
meant  when  he  said:  "The  kingdom  of  God 
cometh  not  with  observation:  neither  shall  they 
say,  Lo,  here !  or.  There !  for  lo,  the  kingdom 
of  God  is  within  you"  (Lk.  xvii,  20,  21).  The 
world  is  coming  to  understand  that  heaven  is 
within  one,  or  hell  is  within  one,  as  the  case  may 
be.  And  whether  it  shall  be  heaven  or  hell 
within  one  is  to  be  determined  by  one  for  one's 
self  under  the  one  all-comprehending  law  of  the 
soul's  retribution.     And  that  law  itself  in  every 


154        KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

case  is  an  expression  of  God's  unchanging  jus- 
tice, fairness  and  love. 

So  then  heaven  is  as  real  as  ever,  but  in  a 
real  sense  every  man  must  make  his  own  heaven 
in  compliance  with  the  law  of  retribution  which 
is  also  the  law  of  consequences.  So  also  hell 
is  as  real  as  ever,  but  in  a  true  sense  every  man, 
who  suffers  in  hell,  makes  his  own  hell  under  the 
same  necessary,  and  divinely-gracious  law  of  the 
soul's  retribution.  As  a  scriptural  and  philo- 
sophical statement  of  this  universal  law  of  ret- 
ribution I  have  selected  two  passages  from  the 
inspired  writings :  "Be  not  deceived ;  God  is  not 
mocked:  for  whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  shall 
he  also  reap.  For  he  that  soweth  unto  his  own 
flesh  shall  of  the  flesh  reap  corruption ;  but  he 
that  soweth  unto  the  Spirit  shall  of  the  Spirit 
reap  eternal  life"  (Gal.  vi,  7,  8);  and  "he  that 
is  steadfast  in  righteousness  shall  attain  unto 
life;  and  he  that  pursueth  evil  doeth  it  to  his 
own  death"  (Prov.  xi,  19).  No  law  of  life  can 
be  of  more  practical  or  stirring  importance  to 
all  of  us  than  this  one  of  the  soul's  retribution. 
For  just  so  sure  as  heaven  is  the  fitting  destiny 
for  the  righteous,  so  sure,  under  this  law,  are 
the  selfish,  the  impure  and  the  unrighteous  mak- 
ing hell  for  the  destiny  and  final  state  of  their 
souls. 

But  while  all  this  is  of  real  importance  to  all 
persons,  yet  it  is  of  greatest  importance  to  those 
who  are  still  yoimg  in  years,  and  especially  to 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  RETRIBUTION      155 

those  who  are  still  in  the  great  formative  period 
of  life,  from  twelve  to  twenty  or  twenty-five 
years  of  age.  John  Ruskin  once  addressed  the 
students  of  a  military  college,  and  in  that  address 
he  urged  the  great  need  of  thoughtfulness  and 
careful  consideration  of  this  law  of  consequences 
on  the  part  of  youth.  Mr.  Ruskin  said:  "I 
have  no  patience  with  people  who  talk  of  'the 
thoughtlessness  of  youth'  indulgently.  I  had 
infinitely  rather  hear  of  thoughtless  old  age,  and 
the  indulgence  due  to  that.  When  a  man  has 
done  his  work,  and  nothing  can  be  materially 
altered  in  his  fate,  let  him  neglect  his  task  and 
jest  with  his  fate  if  he  will;  but  what  excuse  can 
you  find  for  thoughtlessness  and  willfulness  at 
the  very  time  when  all  future  fortune  hangs  on 
your  decisions?  A  youth  thoughtless!  when  his 
whole  career  depends  on  the  opportunity  of  a 
moment !  A  youth  thoughtless !  when  all  the 
happiness  of  his  home  depends  on  his  self-mas- 
tery and  control  of  his  passions  now!  A  youth 
thoughtless  when  his  every  act  is  as  a  torch  to 
fire  the  laid  train  of  future  consequences,  and 
when  every  imagination  is  a  fountain  of  life  or 
of  death!  No!  young  men,  be  thoughtless  in 
ani/  after  years,  rather  than  now — though,  in- 
deed, there  is  only  one  place  when  a  man  may 
be  safely  and  blamelessly  thoughtless — and  that 
is  his  deathbed.  No  thinking  should  be  left  to  be 
done  there."  (Methodist  Review,  March  1905, 
p.  325). 


156       KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

Let  every  young  person,  especially,  know  and 
consider  that  with  the  glorious  opportunity  that 
has  come  to  win  true  life  and  make  heaven  one's 
final  destiny,  has  come,  as  involved  therein,  the 
necessity  of  making  either  heaven  or  hell  for 
one's  future  home.  In  the  making  of  one  or  the 
other  all  of  us  are  now  engaged.  If  your  life 
is  thoughtless  and  selfish,  loving  pleasure  more 
than  God,  then  are  you  minding  the  things  that 
are  vain  and  making  a  hell  within  you  that  shall 
bum  with  the  fires  of  remorse  as  long  as  the  soul 
remains  to  recognize  its  loss  of  love,  and  fellow- 
ship and  God.  No  hell  can  be  conceived  that 
can  be  worse  than  that. 

A  selfish,  loveless,  pleasure-loving  prince  is 
said  to  have  been  given  a  beautiful  palace  in 
which  to  live.  The  palace  had  no  windows  open- 
ing out  to  the  world  where  people  dwelled,  but 
beautiful  gardens  filled  an  inner  court  which  was 
surrounded  by  the  palace.  The  court  was  open 
to  the  sky.  The  prince  was  confined  in  this 
palace.  It  seemed  to  him  at  first  very  pleasant, 
but  gradually  the  open  space  of  the  inner  court 
appeared  to  become  smaller.  Finally  it  seemed 
as  if  he  would  be  crushed  to  death  in  the  grad- 
ually contracting  space.  He  looked  for  help. 
But  no  help  could  come  from  any  direction  but 
from  above.  Finally  he  looked  above  and  there 
was  his  own  elder  brother  waiting  to  help  him 
to  escape  from  that  place  of  intolerable  narrow- 
ness.    He  was   a  prisoner   and  his   story   is   a 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  RETRIBUTION      167 

parable.  His  own  unsocial  and  loveless  disposi- 
tion had  shut  him  in  a  palace  in  which  no  win- 
dows opened  to  the  world  of  humanity  without. 
His  selfishness  had  suggested  many  pleasant 
things  for  him  within  the  palace  for  his  lonely 
pleasure.  Self-centered  and  selfish,  unsocial  and 
loveless,  his  palace  walls  began  to  narrow  until 
finally  it  was  a  question  of  being  crushed  to  death 
or  of  being  helped  from  above.  Jesus,  the  lover 
of  the  human  soul,  reached  down  into  his  prison 
house  of  sin  and  selfishness  the  hand  of  love  and 
fellowship,  and  he  grasped  the  hand  and  was 
saved.  He  was  making  hell  for  himself,  and  his 
selfish  pride  had  already  shut  him  off  from  any 
possibility  of  effectual  help  or  rescue  except  by 
the  hand  of  Jesus  let  down  from  above  to  touch 
him  back  to  love  and  fellowship.  Milton  says : 
"The  mind  is  its  own  place,  and  in  itself  can 
make  a  heaven  of  hell,  a  hell  of  heaven."  That 
prince  with  such  splendid  environment  and  with 
such  opportunity  of  making  heaven  within  him 
had  already  gone  far  in  making  hell  for  himself, 
and  was  only  rescued  through  the  vitalizing  and 
redemptive  fellowship  with  Jesus  which  he  fortu- 
nately accepted  before  it  was  finally  too  late. 

The  Palace  of  Art,  described  by  Tennyson, 
was  the  gilded  hell  which  the  builder  constructed 
for  his  own  selfish,  loveless  soul.  It  was  selfishly 
designed  for  the  purpose  of  self-culture  and 
proud  refinement.  But  the  poverty  and  loss 
which  come  through  living  with  no  thought  for 


158        KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

others  were  forgotten,  and,  therefore,  under  the 
sure  law  of  retribution,  the  inevitable  conse- 
quences of  living  such  a  loveless  and  unsocial  life 
were  sure  to  follow.  The  psychological  law  is 
unfailing.  The  builder  of  such  a  palace  is  ever 
the  maker  of  his  own  hell.  The  philosophy  of 
retribution  is  clear.  He  who  is  wise  will  be 
urged  thereby  to  a  life  of  service,  not  for  self 
but  for  others,  the  sure  and  appropriate  destiny 
of  which  is  heaven  and  the  fellowship  of  heaven. 


XVI 

A  BRIEF  EXAMINATION  OF  SPENCER'S 
DEFINITION  OF  EVOLUTION 

In  this  essay  it  is  not  purposed  to  set  forth 
an  exposition  of  the  Synthetic  Philosophy,  or 
even  of  the  theory  of  Evolution.  That  would 
widen  too  much  the  limits  of  the  present  examina- 
tion. Nor  is  it  purposed  to  enter  into  a  full 
criticism  of  Mr.  Spencer's  First  Principles.  It 
is  fully  recognized  that  for  half  a  century  the 
name  of  Herbert  Spencer  has  ranked  high  among 
the  leaders  of  human  thought.  It  may  be 
doubted  if  the  thinking  of  any  other  man  has 
left  so  deep  an  impression  upon  the  scientific, 
religious  and  philosophic  thought  of  the  last 
generation.  The  author  of  the  Synthetic  Philos- 
ophy was  a  great  systematizer  of  human  knowl- 
edges. He  claimed  to  think  meanly  of  meta- 
physics but  he  was  himself,  nevertheless  a 
metaphysician.  The  characteristic  greatness  of 
his  work  was,  however,  as  a  systematizer  of 
observed  facts ;  its  marked  weakness  was  in  a 
faulty  underlying  metaphysics.  He  assumed 
that  truth  to  be  known  must  belong  to  the 
phenomenal,  which  meant  that  it  must  be  pic- 
turable.  This  of  course  banishes  by  hypothesis 
all  rational  metaphysics  into  the  realm  of  the 
unknowable.  Nevertheless  in  great  degree  the 
159 


160       KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

Synthetic  Philosophy  was  developed  with  con- 
scious reference  to  laws  and  principles  of  the 
so-called  Unknowable.  Spencer  insisted  that  the 
reasonings  of  his  system  furnished  no  support 
either  to  the  materialistic  or  to  the  idealistic 
(which  he  calls  "spiritualistic")  hypothesis 
touching  the  ultimate  nature  of  being.  Touch- 
ing the  materialist  and  the  spiritualist  hypoth- 
eses he  says:  "Their  implications  are  no  more 
materialistic  than  they  are  spiritualistic;  and  no 
more  spiritualistic  than  they  are  materialistic." 
In  trying  to  get  free  from  metaphysics  of  any 
sort  Spencer  fell  a  victim  to  a  bad  metaphysics. 
His  doctrine  of  the  unknowable  ground  of  the 
known  is  clearly  a  metaphysical  doctrine  not  less 
than  is  Kant's  doctrine  of  the  noumenal  reality. 
Spencer  was  as  sure  of  the  existence  of  the 
Unknowable  as  he  was  that  it  is  unknowable.  He 
says:  "Common  sense  asserts  the  existence  of 
a  reality;  objective  science  proves  that  this 
reality  can  not  be  what  we  think  it;  subjective 
science  shows  why  we  can  not  think  of  it  as  it 
is  and  yet  are  compelled  to  think  of  it  as  ex- 
isting; and  in  this  assertion  of  a  reality  utterly 
inscrutable  in  nature,  religion  finds  an  assertion 
essentially  coinciding  with  her  own.  We  are 
obliged  to  regard  every  phenomenon  as  a  mani- 
festation of  some  power  by  which  we  are  acted 
upon ;  though  omnipresence  is  unthinkable."  If 
only  that  is  thinkable  which  can  be  pictured  then 
is  omnipresence  unthinkable,  but  it  may  well  be 


SPENCER'S  DEFINITION  161 

that  in  just  this  is  its  distinction,  namely,  that  it 
is  not  picturable  but  is  only  thinkable.  Com- 
mon sense  metaphysics  can  not  picture  omnipres- 
ence, infinity  or  the  absolute,  but  all  these  are 
proper  objects  for  a  rational  metaphysics. 

As  related  to  the  foregoing,  we  notice  Spen- 
cer's discussion  of  the  "persistence  of  force," 
which  looms  large  in  his  thinking.  He  says : 
"By  the  persistence  of  force  we  really  mean  the 
persistence  of  some  cause  which  transcends  our 
knowledge  and  conception.  In  asserting  it  we 
assert  an  unconditional  reality  without  beginning 
or  end. 

"Thus,  quite  unexpectedly,  we  come  down  once 
more  to  that  ultimate  truth  in  which,  as  we  saw, 
religion  and  science  coalesce.  On  examining  the 
data  underlying  a  rational  theory  of  things,  we 
find  them  all  at  last  resolvable  into  that  datum 
without  which  consciousness  was  shown  to  be  im- 
possible— the  continued  existence  of  an  unknow- 
able as  the  necessary  correlative  of  the  knowable. 

"The  sole  truth  which  transcends  experience 
by  underlying  it  is  thus  the  persistence  of  force. 
This  being  the  basis  of  experience  must  be  the 
basis  of  any  scientific  organization  of  experi- 
ences. To  this  an  ultimate  analysis  brings  us 
down,  and  on  this  a  rational  synthesis  must 
build  up."  It  should  be  noted  here  that  in  the 
field  of  rational  metaphysics  the  idealist  finds 
this  "unknowable"  by  rational  inference  to  be 
absolute  free  intelligence.     For  him  the  absolute 


162       KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

"which  transcends  experience  by  underlying  it" 
is  rationally  known  to  be  free  intelligence ;  space- 
less, timeless,  self-existing,  self-directing  agent; 
free  intelligence.  With  this  difference  of  prem- 
ise the  idealist  would  say  with  the  words  of 
Spencer,  that  "This  being  the  basis  of  experi- 
ence must  be  the  basis  of  any  scientific  organiza- 
tion of  experiences.  To  this  an  ultimate  analy- 
sis brings  us  down,  and  on  this  a  rational 
synthesis  must  build  up." 

In  Spencer's  view  "philosophy  is  completely 
unified  knowledge."  If  science  is  to  be  viewed 
as  "classified  knowledge,"  then,  according  to  this 
definition,  science  and  philosophy  would  be  one 
and  the  same.  Science  and  philosophy,  as  thus 
conceived,  may  not  go  beyond  the  bounds  of  in- 
ductive investigation.  When  the  scientist  or 
philosopher,  as  thus  conceived,  assumes  to  inter- 
pret the  ultimate  truth  of  facts  gathered  by  the 
inductive  process,  he  is  out  of  his  sphere.  Con- 
fusion at  this  point  has  been  the  source  of  much 
profitless  worry  and  debate  in  the  scientific, 
philosophical  and  religious  fields.  More  prop- 
erly understood,  science  gathers  and  classifies  the 
facts  which  come  within  the  reach  of  human  ob- 
servation and  experience;  philosophy  interprets 
these  according  to  the  rational  implications  and 
conclusions  to  which  the  laws  of  thought  natu- 
rally and  properly  lead.  Thus  there  need  be 
no  conflict  between  science  and  philosophy,  and 


SPENCER'S  DEFINITION  163 

both  may  buttress  and  support  a  rational  and 
holy  faith. 

Spencer  thought  of  himself  as  an  evolutionist, 
and  it  is  as  an  evolutionist  that  he  will  be  long- 
est remembered  by  the  world.  In  the  Synthetic 
Philosophy  the  task  which  the  author  took  upon 
himself  was  nothing  less  than  the  giving  to  the 
world  of  a  "completely  unified  knowledge."  The 
universal  law  under  which  Spencer  believed  all 
knowledge  might  be  thus  unified  was  formulated 
by  him  as  follows :  "Evolution  is  an  integra- 
tion of  matter  and  concomitant  dissipation  of 
motion;  during  which  the  matter  passes  from  an 
indefinite  incoherent  homogeneity  to  a  definite 
coherent  heterogeneity ;  and  during  which  the  re- 
tained motion  undergoes  a  parallel  transforma- 
tion." 

Concerning  this  celebrated  formula  it  is  de- 
sired to  ask  frankly  two  questions:  (1)  What 
does  it  mean.'*  and  (2)  is  it  valid  for  the  under- 
standing.'' It  is  not  now  our  purpose  to  con- 
trovert, but  only  to  analyze  and  understand. 
And,  first  of  all,  it  would  seem,  from  the  lan- 
guage used,  as  if  it  were  intended  to  be  merely  a 
cosmic  formula,  having  reference  only  to  the  ma- 
terial world  of  matter.  The  language  used 
would  seem  to  preclude  any  other  application. 
We  will  not  consider  here  the  problem  involved  in 
such  a  universal  application  of  the  law  of  evolu- 
tion, as   thus   stated,  as   Spencer  undertook  to 


164       KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

make  in  the  various  fields  of  ethics,  sociology, 
psychology,  religion,  though  it  would  be  inter- 
esting to  inquire  into  the  metaphysical  presup- 
positions of  his  reasonings  in  these  fields. 

Our  present  examination  must  not  be  so  com- 
prehensive. What  then  is  the  meaning  of  the 
formula  of  evolution,  as  stated  by  Spencer? 
What  is  an  integration?  It  is  defined  as  being 
some  sort  of  a  change  of  a  manifold  into  some- 
thing simple.  It  is  the  reduction  of  chaos 
(whatever  that  may  mean),  to  form  and 
order. 

But  we  have  here,  by  definition,  an  integration 
of  matter.  What  kind  of  matter.''  In  the  next 
clause  we  learn  that  the  matter  assumed  is  "an 
indefinite,  incoherent  homogeneity."  But  in 
what  sense  is  it  "indefinite"?  And  in  what  sense 
"incoherent"  ? 

Is  matter  here  studied  as  to  its  phenomenal 
character  or  as  to  its  metaphysical?  If  as  to 
its  phenomenal  character,  then  we  have  an  at- 
tempted description  of  a  process,  and  certain 
chaotic,  formless,  mutually  unrelated  bits  of  one 
kind  of  matter  (which  is  a  description  unwar- 
ranted in  reason,  since  we  may  not  affirm  so 
much  as  "homogeneity"  of  matter  which  is  really 
"indefinite,  incoherent")  are  said  to  change  into 
orderly,  simple,  formful,  related  bits  of  different 
kinds  of  matter,  and  during  the  change  there 
is  said  to  be  a  loss  of  some  motion,  and  the  mo- 
tion which  is  retained  is  said  to  be  changed  from 


SPENCER'S  DEFINITION  165 

an  indefinite,  orderless,  and  directionless  kind 
of  motion  into  a  definite,  orderly  motion. 

It  would  appear  then  that  the  definition, 
properly  understood,  can  have  little  or  no  cer- 
tain meaning,  even  if  it  is  to  be  understood  as 
describing  a  phenomenal  process,  since  the  basal 
assumption,  namely,  "an  indefinite,  incoherent 
homogeneity,"  is  impossible  for  clear  thought. 
We  can  not  rationally  affirm  "homogeneity"  of 
matter  which  is  really  "indefinite"  and  "in- 
coherent," and  we  can  not  aflSrm  of  a  "homo- 
geneity" that  it  is  really  "indefinite"  and  "in- 
coherent." 

On  the  other  hand,  if  the  definition  looks 
deeper  than  to  the  description  of  a  mere  process 
to  something  metaphysical,  then  we  have  more 
questions  to  ask  as  to  the  basal  assumption  with 
which  the  definer  begins.  Matter  assumed,  we 
have  again  to  ask,  What  kind  of  matter?  We 
are  told  that  it  is  "an  indefinite,  incoherent 
homogeneity."  If  now  "indefinite"  means  with- 
out form,  and  if  "incoherent"  means  zvithout 
mutual  gravitation,  we  would  have  our  matter 
stripped  of  everything  but  just  pure  being. 
Now  whether  pure  being  is  a  homogeneity  or 
not  we  need  not  attempt  to  say.  Of  pure  be- 
ing we  can  affirm  nothing  for  we  can  know  noth- 
ing of  it.  For  human  thought  the  content  of 
pure  being  equals  nothing.  Now  how  nothing 
can  evolve  into  something  is  a  great  mystery, 
and  it  is  one  which  the  empiricists  on  the  sense 


166       KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

plane  can  not  escape.  The  common  sense  em- 
piricist metaphysician,  if  his  primal  assumption 
of  being  is  granted,  must  not  expect  to  find 
anything  in  the  sequent  that  was  not  in  some 
way  in  pure  being,  the  antecedent.  If  he  could 
find  anything  in  the  sequent  which  was  not  in 
some  way  in  the  antecedent  (pure  being)  that 
something  would  itself  be  a  "groundless  becom- 
ing" ("Theory  of  Thought  and  Knowledge,"  by 
Bowne,  page  94). 

Neither  will  the  assumption  of  a  "potential 
energy"  in  the  antecedent  help  out.  If  actual 
actuality  in  the  sequent  is  anything  more  than 
potential  actuality  assumed  in  the  antecedent 
then  something  really  new  has  been  added  in  the 
process,  which  can  not  be,  since,  if  so,  that  some- 
thing new  thus  added  would  be  a  groundless  be- 
coming. 

There  is  no  way  out  of  this  difficulty  upon 
the  mechanical  and  sense  plane.  A  thing  can 
not  be  and  not  be  at  the  same  time,  and,  upon 
the  sense  plane,  that  which  is  not  can  never 
become  that  which  is.  Thus  we  see  that  upon 
the  sense  plane  we  could  never  be  able  to  get 
such  an  evolution  as  that  assumed  to  be  defined. 

But  let  us  assume  the  process  to  be  started. 
Let  motion  be  assumed.  The  last  clause  of  the 
definition  assumes  that  this  motion  is  at  first 
indefinite,  directionless,  purposeless.  Upon  the 
mechanical  and  sense  plane  what  could  ever  make 
it  otherwise.?     If  motion  were  not  assumed  how 


SPENCER'S  DEFINITION  167 

could  it  be  gotten?  How  could  it  be  dissipated 
when  once  gotten?  Again,  that  which  is  not 
can  never  become  that  which  is. 

We  conclude  that  the  definition  under  ex- 
amination can  have  no  real  meaning  for  clear 
thought,  and  hence  no  real  validity  for  the  un- 
derstanding; not  even  as  an  explanation  or  de- 
scription of  a  process  viewed  merely  as  phenom- 
enal. 

As  a  metaphysical  explanation  of  the  world 
it  remains  upon  the  sense  plane,  and  can  have 
no  validity.  It  does  not  explain  how  that  which 
is  not  can  ever  become  that  which  is,  a  provi- 
sion for  which  must  underlie  any  valid  explana- 
tion of  the  world.  We  think  that  Professor 
Bowne  suggests  the  true  metaphysical  explana- 
tion, which  is  "to  refer  all  motion,  progress,  de- 
velopment, evolution,  to  a  supreme  self-deter- 
mination which  ever  lives  and  ever  founds  the 
order  of  things." 


XVII 

"WE  ALL  ARE  PROPHETS" 

We  all  are  prophets  of  a  lesser  size; 

And  some  are  nobly  statured,  bold  and  high, 

Who  in  the  universe  of  God  are  wise 

To  read  His  thought  for  future  age,  as  nigh. 

'Tis  said  there  are  no  prophets  but  in  Bible  ken, 
That  God  full  truth  vouchsafed  to  servants  ages 

past. 
But  now   no   longer   speaks   with   creature   man 

as  then ; 
And  yet  no  falser  libel  ere  on  God  were  cast. 

For  he  who  thinks  the  thought  of  God,  ere  yet 

'tis  done, 
Speaking  forth  with  fearlessness, 
Is  nothing  less  than  God's  inspired  one, — 
Prophet — forthteller — of  His  righteousness. 


168 


Pr'nceti 


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